


Hallflower

by OhLawdHeComin



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
Genre: Angst, F/M, Kiyondo is a simp, Multiple Endings, Reader-Insert, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:21:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 29,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28246848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhLawdHeComin/pseuds/OhLawdHeComin
Summary: As soon as the killing game started, you immediately shut yourself in your room in fear of your life, refusing to leave. Worried about you, Taka strikes a deal: you start coming out, and he'll be your personal escort. You accept, and the two of you quickly become friends. However, you start to find yourself feeling funny around him, something that the mastermind notices with great interest...
Relationships: Ishimaru Kiyotaka/Reader
Comments: 4
Kudos: 79





	1. Entering the Uncertain

“No! I’m not coming out!” you yelled at the boy clad in white as you peered at him through the crack in your door.

You couldn’t risk a thing. Even stepping one foot outside your room could spell your doom. When you’re trapped in a game that could only be escaped with murder, everyone was your enemy. You were nothing to them but a means of leaving. No matter how much they smiled, no matter how sincere they sounded when they greeted you, none of it could be trusted. The only way to guarantee your safety was to stay within the confines of your secure dorm room.

You stared at the boy with paralyzing fear. It took every ounce of your courage to even answer the doorbell which had suddenly rang a few moments prior. Your hands were positioned to the back of the door, ready to slam it closed the moment you caught a glimpse of a knife or some other instrument of death. Contrary to your paranoia, he had no such thing, and simply stood in the middle of the hall with his arms planted firmly at his sides.

The boy’s name was Kiyotaka Ishimaru, or Taka for short. He was the Ultimate Moral Compass, earning his spot at the prestigious Hope’s Peak Academy not from some inane skill bestowed upon him by fate but through his strong work ethic that carried him to the top of his class. You first met him, as well as the other students in your class just the other day ago in the main hall of Hope’s Peak, which had been somehow converted into an ultra-high security prison. You’ve never personally spoken to him before, but his overwhelming presence was inescapable, his voice always raised several decibels above the rest of the room. It also seemed he was the natural leader of the group, as you had noticed that he was already making executive decisions for everyone. At first, you found him quite irritating, but you couldn’t help but admire him for taking initiative in such a perilous situation.

“Good morning, (y/n)!” he had greeted you when you first cracked open the door, his thick brows furrowed in a serious expression. “I know you have not left your room for some time, but this is of the upmost importance! Please come to the dining hall as soon as you can!”

It was then you refused his order. A look of concern crossed his face.

“Please, (y/n), it isn’t healthy to stay cooped up in there all the time! At least come out for breakfast! Nobody has seen you since the first day and we’re all worried sick!”

“Yeah, b-but I might die if I leave!” you protested. “What if someone poisons my food?”

“Well…” he said, thinking of what to say next. “Then I will do everything I can to ensure that nothing like that ever happens to you! I’ll even taste test your meal myself beforehand to make sure it’s safe for consumption!”

“Huh?” you gasped, taken aback by his offer. “You’d… do that for me?”

Seeing your sudden demeanor change, his cheeks pulled up, forming a beaming smile. “Of course! Whatever it takes to get you to leave your room once in a while, I will gladly oblige to!” His big grin was soothing to the soul, and it made you feel a bit more at ease about the prospect of exiting the only place you could be sure was safe. However, your mind darted right back to the possibility that this was some kind of trick, that his kindness was just a front for the unspeakable acts he planned to do to you. You kept telling yourself earlier than you couldn’t trust anyone, but slowly yet surely, you were beginning to doubt that assertion. You were never the best at identifying if someone is lying or being ingenuine, but somehow you felt you could afford to let your guard down around him, at least for just one short trip to the cafeteria at the end of the hall.

“Well, ok then…” you relented. Slowly, you pulled the door more open, revealing more than just your protruding face. Your every limb quivered as you stumbled into the hallway. You nervously turned your head back and forth, scanning for any possible threats, but there was nobody around besides you and Taka.

“I shall escort you there!” he offered. “I have already gone to round up everyone else, so let us go to the dining hall together!”

You gave him an uneasy nod, and the two of you made your way there. Some of your classmates had already arrived and were eating their morning meals. As you stepped into the room, Taka opened his big mouth and began to shout.

“Great news everyone! I got (y/n) to leave her room and come join us!”

Immediately all their heads turned. As they noticed you, they looked in surprise.

“Oh, (y/n)!” Hina said cheerfully. “You finally came out, thank goodness! We were worried you’d be in there forever!”

As you looked at her and everyone else’s happy faces, you felt a pit grow in your stomach. Part of you wanted to open yourself up to your classmates. If you weren’t in this killing game, you’d have probably struck up friendly conversations with all of them by now. But there was just too much at stake. They might be perfectly good people in another world, but here and now they could succumb to the pressure and commit the deed at any moment. If you could barely trust the one who had the Ultimate Moral Compass as his title, then it was incredibly unlikely that you could put your faith in them anytime soon. You couldn’t help but feel bad for being so cold to them, but you knew doing so was your only chance of surviving.

You didn’t verbally respond to her, merely nodding and weakly waving. The lukewarm response didn’t seem to bother her at all. She kept up her cheery smile, and you followed Taka to an opening in the back of the room. Inside was the kitchen, stocked with all kinds of food. There were mountains of produce, shelves full of nonperishables, and appliances for cooking whatever you wish. You were confused as to why whoever was trapping you here was providing you so many delicious things to eat. They could have maximized your suffering and only given you all meager portions of barely edible hardtack, but you decided not to dwell on that and enjoy what little comfort you could find here.

“Go ahead, take whatever you want!” Taka invited you. “For your peace of mind, I’ll stand guard while you prepare your food. I won’t let anyone else come in until you’re done!”

“Oh… thank you…” you said. As you reached for a box of instant oatmeal, you turned your head to see him standing at the entrance to block it. He faced out to the dining hall, his entire body stiff as a stick. It seemed like he was taking this very seriously. It baffled you to think he would go this far for someone as stubborn as you, but you were appreciative nonetheless. He remained there diligently for every moment it took you to cook the grains. After it was finished, you poured the oatmeal into a bowl and walked over to him.

“All done,” you announced to him. “Thanks for keeping watch. I didn’t have to fret over the possibility of someone tampering with my food if nobody else could come in…”

“My pleasure!” Taka replied with a smile. “Ah, but I did promise to taste test it! I suppose standing guard eliminated any chance of that, but a promise is a promise!” He reached for the cabinet containing the silverware. He picked out a spoon, then took a scoop of your gray glop. He put it in his mouth, his tongue analyzing it for anything suspicious. “Tastes perfectly normal to me! Now, why don’t you take a seat? I saw a few more people come in, and I think everyone is here. We’ll be able to start the meeting any moment now.”

You nodded, then returned to the dining hall, sitting at the same long table as everyone else. Even though you felt uneasy around them, you knew you would be safer if you sat near a large group of people rather than being isolated at an empty table at the other corner of the room. As you sat down, you noticed Taka had followed you, taking the seat next to yours. You began to shovel the flavorless slop into your mouth. Although it wasn’t the tastiest thing in the world, something bland and inoffensive to the stomach was just what you needed at the moment.

“I forgot just now hungry I was…” you mumbled out loud.

“You haven’t come for any meals,” Taka noted with concern in his voice. “Have you not eaten at all since we got here?”

“Nothing big, but I did find some of my favorite snacks in my room,” you replied. “I don’t remember bringing them, but I have been eating them whenever I get particularly famished.”

“(y/n), you can’t just be eating junk food!” he scolded you. “You need full nutritional meals, which means its high time you stop being in your room all the time and start coming out more to eat!”

You looked solemnly to the ground and sighed. “Yeah… I really should… but you know how terrified I am…” Suddenly, a strong resolve filled your entire being. You realized you couldn’t keep making excuses for yourself anymore. Your fear had gone too far, and was at the point where the consequences of neglecting your needs would start to show. You knew it was time to push yourself a bit, but you knew you couldn’t do it alone. It took someone else intervening to get you to take the first step, and you would need that someone to keep going. The idea was once unfathomable, but at last you accepted it to be true. It was time to put your trust in another. You looked at the boy to your side, the kind young gentleman who offered his helping hand with seemingly no strings attached, no ulterior motives and no plans to backstab you after his assistance was done. His actions spoke loudly, and combining that with his earlier efforts towards group unity, you could determine that his character was something worth taking that chance on.

“You know, I’ll come out for meals and meals only under one condition…” you began. “I’d like you to be my escort, walking me here every time like you just did now.”

“I accept your proposal!” he enthusiastically answered. “What times do you eat at? I will be at your room precisely then!”

“How does breakfast at the 7 AM morning announcement, lunch at 11:30, and dinner at 6 sound?”

“Understood! Now we can have morning meetings with absolutely everyone! Speaking of, I do believe we should get that started now!”

As everyone was seated and had turned their attention towards him, he officially commenced what was to become the first of many breakfast meetings. Everyone began to discuss things they found out about the eerily vacant Hope’s Peak as well as potential methods for escape. Things seemed to be going very well, and although there was nothing you could contribute, you were content just sitting there and absorbing everything being said. You even felt a sliver of belonging, a subtle connectedness that was never there before. For the first time since you came here, you felt hope, hope that you and these fifteen other students could work together and find a way out, that you had nothing to fear from them.

Then of course, he popped in.

The bicolored robotic bear being puppeteered by the killing game’s nefarious mastermind: Monokuma.

He just had to ruin whatever progress you were making at that moment. He expressed disappointment in everyone’s teamwork and lack of willingness to murder. To that, he presented everyone a motive. In the AV room, there was a box of DVDs, each labeled with a student’s name. Spotting yours, you snatched it, then sat down at one of the several personal players.

What you saw horrified you.

The footage on the disk was a still photo of you and your family, a photo that always sat on the television stand at home. Questions flooded your mind. How did the mastermind get their hands on it? Photos in your household always stayed in the family albums and were never publicly shared. Before you could stop and think, you heard Monokuma’s voice narrate the video, talking about how happy everyone was, how blissful and free of worry their lives were. Suddenly, the image changed. Your family was gone, leaving only the room in the background, which now looked like a total war zone: it was in a completely uninhabitable state, the furnishings in complete disarray. You put your hands over your mouth to hold back the audible gasp of horror forming at your lips. Your eyes were completely glued to the little screen, desperate for an explanation. What happened here? Was your family okay? Is this just a trick from Monokuma? The video gave no clues, and all there was a message in a bright red cartoony font telling you to “Search for the answer after graduation”. You turned to some of the others in the room, and they were all reacting similarly. Everyone got up from their personal players and looked at each other. They all began to express their disbelief and shock. You then came to the realization that with this new motive Monokuma had given everyone, now everyone had a reason they might kill for. It was all back to square one. You couldn’t trust anyone any-

_“No! No more backpedaling!”_ you mentally scolded yourself. _“This is just what Monokuma wants. I’ve been playing into his hands by being scared all this time. I can’t let his pressure get in my way. I need to keep my head up and- “_

Your train of thought was interrupted by the anguished scream of Sayaka Maizono, as she proceeded to bolt out the door. With that your little inner pep talk came to an end and uneasiness returned. What could be in her video that made her react so extremely? Was she just mentally not very strong, or did your video’s content pale in comparison to the others? Either way, your spirits had been ruined. You saw little else to do than sulk back to your room. All you wanted was to be alone right now. As you shut the door behind you and crashed down on the uncomfortable bed, you tried to distract yourself with other thoughts, but it was in vain. Your every brain cell had become fixated on that video. You stared at the ceiling, picturing various awful fates that could have befallen your loved ones. You had become so absorbed in them that time seemed to become nonexistent. You were in a whole other world at that moment, a world of deep, inescapable despair.

Then, you heard your doorbell ring. Confused, you groggily pulled yourself up and stumbled your way to the door. You cracked it open, and saw Taka standing there once again.

“It’s 11:30,” he announced. “Time to get out for some lunch, just as we promised!”

“Oh…” you muttered. “I almost forgot about that…but are you sure? It’s certainly been, well, an eventful day for all of us… maybe it would be best if we all were just by ourselves today… I don’t imagine you’re in the best mental state right now…”

“Nonsense, (y/n)!” he confidently responded. “Like I said, a promise is a promise, and I won’t let some silly videos get in the way of me helping you!”

“Really? Are you sure?” you said. “Well, I appreciate it… come to think of it I could use a good meal right now…”

He nodded, and the two of you made your way to the dining hall for the second time that day. He safeguarded you once again as you got what you wished to eat, then sat down at a table together with you.

“Thank you…” you meekly smiled. “I totally lost track of the time… if it weren’t for you, I totally would have just completely spaced out for the rest of the day… I just couldn’t stop thinking about my family… I’m really worried about them…”

“Oh, so your video had your family in it too?” Taka inquired. “At first I was so shocked that I couldn’t put out the words to describe what I saw… but after pondering it for a while and hearing that yours is similar to mine, I think I’m ready to talk about it…”

“Yeah, you don’t have to go into the specifics,” you said. “I guess what matters is that we’re both in this together. Today I’ve come to suddenly realize that with this whole killing game thing, it’s important to have someone who can see eye to eye with you, someone who’s got your back. And well, you certainly have had my back today… I hope someday I’ll be able to reciprocate it…”

“Indeed!” he cheered. “As fellow classmates, it is in our duty to support each other in any way we can!”

“I don’t know…” you pondered. “Classmates? It’s true that we are, but that kind of sounds more like a friend! Friends are always there for each other, aren’t they?”

“Huh!?” he said in surprise. “Are you saying… that I’m your friend?”

You looked at him quizzically. “Well, yeah I'd say you’re my friend! If we’re already meal buddies, I don’t see why we can’t become good friends!”

“Really? Because I…” he replied, sheepishly looking at the ground. “I’ve never had a friend before!”

“What?” you gasped. “How can that be? You’re such a nice guy, surely there’ve been some people who you’ve gotten along with!”

“My father has always told me about the importance of the bond between men. Their fellowship is what makes this society so great, after all! Unfortunately, none of the other boys in my class ever wanted anything to do with me… Plus, I’ve also been devoted to my studies. Any time not spent growing your mind is frankly a waste, so I don’t have time for such frivolities!”

“Well, I’m sorry I’m not a guy then…” you responded. “I wish I could show you that kind of friendship your dad speaks so highly of… I can’t imagine a friendship between a girl and a guy is quite the same…”

“Ah, no worries!” he assured you. “Friendship between the opposite sexes is still very good, of course! I’d be more than happy to be your friend, (y/n)! I look forward to the two of us becoming closer in the future!”

He smiled, putting on the biggest grin you had seen from yet. His cheeks were pulled up as high as they could go, his eyes squinting as every muscle in his face contracted with glee. The world around you seemed to change, the harsh, unnatural lighting of the dining hall faded, replaced with the genuine warmth of his beaming expression. You were helplessly drawn to it like a black hole. As you stared, you felt an uneasiness fill your stomach. You nervously giggled, trying to shake off the sensation. After all, it was probably just all jumpy and nervous from that day’s events, and it wasn’t taking the food you had just eaten very well.

Right?


	2. Sleepless Nights

“Hmm… knowing this angle, we can solve for this one, meaning that Side X is… 16!” 

You slid Taka your scratch paper, showing your work for the math problem you had just solved. He had found a geometry textbook in one of the classrooms and insisted that the two of you do the drills in it to keep your minds sharp. Despite the killing game being dubbed the “Killing School Life” there was very little “school” going on, or “killing” for the matter… yet.

“Gee, this is way easier than I thought it would be!” you said. “Normally math doesn’t come this quickly for me, but it’s like I’ve learned this stuff before and I just forgot most of it…”

Taka scanned the page, verifying if you had done the problem right.

“Ah, correct!” he confirmed. “Very well done! If you feel you’ve sufficiently mastered this content like you said, we can work on the next section!”

You nodded and turned the textbook’s pages to the next chapter. As you started working on the next problem, the dining hall was quickly filling, as the pokier students started arriving. Soon, it seemed everyone was there. However, it seemed Sayaka was still missing, even though she never seemed to be the type to be overly late. Upon realizing this, Makoto ran out the room in a hurry. You were a bit confused, but that confusion quickly turned into fear when he didn’t return. An investigation to the one open room in the dorm room hall found him passed out on the floor,

and in the bathroom, the dead body of Sayaka Maizono.

When you heard the news, your heart practically stopped. All your worst fears were coming true.

Someone was dead, and you could be next.

Your eyes became large and unblinking, and you could feel the blood drain from your face.

The monitors on the wall powered on, showing Monokuma lounging on a chair in some kind of surveillance room, with a glass of alcohol in his paw. “A body has been discovered!” he cheerily said. “Now then, all of you come to the gym at once! Attendance is one hundred percent mandatory! Puhuhuhu, see you soon!”

“T-this is r-really for real?” Toko stuttered. “Do you think that… that… Monokuma killed her?”

“If that’s the case, then we shouldn’t go.” Byakuya argued. “Why should we comply with that bear anyways?”

“I think you’re underestimating the situation we’re in,” Kyoko responded. “We are completely at Monokuma’s mercy right now. It would be incredibly unwise to defy him.”

“Yes, but since things have become more dire, perhaps we should start fighting back!” Taka proposed. “If we refuse to stand against him, what if he hurts another one of our friends? Do we really want to take that risk?”

He turned to you, noticing that you had shrunken back, looking quite vulnerable. As his eyes met yours, you untensed a bit. You shyly smiled, feeling slightly more at ease.

“Your determination is admirable, but I can assure you that is far from our best course of action,” she said. “Remember how he nearly blew up Mondo? Plus, I have my suspicions… it is in our best interest if we at least hear what he has to say first.”

“Seems reasonable to me,” Junko replied. “After we know what he wants from us, then we can totally take him out if we need!”

With reluctance, everyone agreed to go meet Monokuma in the gym. Hiro volunteered to drag the unconscious Makoto there, as Monokuma did specify everyone, and would probably be furious if the Ultimate Lucky Student were absent. Once everyone gathered there and Makoto woke up, Monokuma appeared to make his promised announcement.

He said he didn’t kill Sayaka. It was one of your classmates, someone standing amongst you. You figured it was probably the case, but didn’t want to believe it, not after you had made a conscious effort to be less paranoid. The you from the other day ago was right. You couldn’t trust anyone after all.

 _“No, maybe not everyone…”_ you thought, turning your gaze to Taka. _“I know he couldn’t have done it. He would never… right?”_

Ruling the two of you out, that still left thirteen people to be suspicious about. You told yourself not to be overly worried about it, since the killer would get to leave, and you wouldn’t have to deal with living with a murderer. However, your hopes were quickly dashed when Monokuma explained the class trial system to you. If you couldn’t narrow it all down to one person, then you and everyone else would get executed, and the killer would go free. As the horrified gasps of your fellow classmates filled the room, you burst into tears.

“I’m going to die… I’m going to die!” you sobbed. “Whywhywhywhywhywhy?”

Before you had the opportunity to cry any more, Junko, refusing to take part in any of this, had stomped down on Monokuma. As she pressed her heel into him further, Monokuma began to chant. Spikes suddenly shot up from the ground beneath them, impaling her several times. You froze in complete disbelief.

 _“Nononono… this is just a bad dream… I’m going to open my eyes and everything will be fine…”_ you tried pulling all your facial muscles to hopefully wake up and escape the nightmare, but it was no use. This was reality. Sayaka might have already died, but you didn’t have to go through the anguish of watching her passing in real time. As you stared at the fleshy wounds formed from the spears tearing through Junko’s skin, you began to feel lightheaded and dizzy. A surge of vomit invaded your mouth, which leaked out onto the gym floor.

“Whoa there, barf girl! Don’t start getting all sick!” Monokuma taunted you. “You’re going to need to be nice and healthy for the investigation! Speaking of, I’ve got a little something for all of you to help you out!”

He passed you a thin book, dubbed the Monokuma File. In it was information of Sayaka’s murder, namely the time of death and a description of the state of the discovered body. As everyone cracked it open, an interesting observation was made.

She was killed in Makoto’s room. Immediately all suspicion fell on him. Your classmates seemed to have come to the premature conclusion that it must have been him. He claimed that the two of them had merely traded rooms after she told him he was scared, but it was quickly dismissed as a possible lie. Him killing her made a lot of sense to you. How else would she have gotten in his room? However, for the sake of your very life, you knew you couldn’t put all your eggs in that basket, and you could tell most of the others agreed. It was then everyone stared to split off to investigate.

“I need to go back to my room and brush my teeth…” you said. “All I can taste is puke right now…” You attempted to head out of the gym, but your body had become debilitated, both from the shock of death and the stress of ejecting so much bodily fluid. You were wildly shaking, wobbling as you struggled to walk.

“Are you okay, (y/n)?” Taka asked you worriedly. “Here, I’ll help you get there!” He then walked up to you, took hold of your arm and threw it over his shoulder.

“Thank you…” you weakly smiled. “Can I help you investigate when I’m done?”

“You can sit this one out if you’d like…” he replied. “I think you need some rest.”

“No, it’s fine…” you insisted. “I don’t want to be a useless burden to everyone. I want to help us make sure we survive this.”

Hearing that, he put on a determined grin. “You know, you’re braver than you think, (y/n)! Now, let’s get you cleaned up!” He carried you all the way to your room. From there, you detached from him and unlocked the door. You entered, heading straight for your bathroom. As the vile taste of throw-up started to fade, replaced with the freshness of mint, you felt significantly better. You left your room and started patrolling the hallways with Taka in search of clues. Unfortunately, nothing came up, even when you checked every nook and cranny. It was overall pretty uneventful, the only thing of significance that happened was that Makoto had approached Taka to inquire about his involvement in cleaning duty. As the two of them talked, you stayed cautiously behind your friend, wary about the potential murderer standing right in front of you.

 _“Could this guy really have killed someone?”_ you wondered. _“He seems like a pretty sweet boy, and he sounds pretty earnest, but can I trust that? Oh God, please save us and lead us to the truth…”_

Not too long after they had talked, you heard the monitor chime. Monokuma appeared on the screen, announcing that it was time for the trial. He then instructed everyone to gather in front of the giant red door.

“What!? It’s time already?” you whined. “But we didn’t find any evidence! I really am good as useless!”

“Oh, don’t think of it that way!” Taka responded. “All the vital clues are probably going to be found by the people who investigated the actual scene of the crime anyways. It’s good that we did in fact confirm that there was nothing in the halls, because imagine if we missed an important piece of evidence! That would be bad, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, you’re right…” you agreed.

You both then headed to the red door Monokuma told you to go to. It had always been locked until now. You had always wondered what was behind it. It was so out of place from everything else on the floor. Its ornateness was very off-putting, and it being in its own hall segregated from the rest gave it a very ominous aura. At first you thought the mastermind might be hiding in there, as a grandiose location would be fitting for the perpetrator of such a grandiose plot, but you were starting to think that it wasn’t the case if Monokuma was going to let you in so easily like that. Taka then grabbed ahold of one of the doors and yanked it open, revealing a small, claustrophobic room inside. On the opposite wall was an elevator, but other than that, it was completely bare. You followed him in, and soon after, everyone else arrived. Before you all were herded into the elevator, Taka gave you a solemn nod.

“Let’s do the best we can, (y/n),” he said. “I’ll be fighting for you, and for everyone!”

You nodded in return, feigning your confidence. You had to win this. You only had one shot, and losing was not an option. The pressure on you at that moment was astronomically high, which only grew greater as the doors of the elevator closed and began to slowly descend. Its mechanical groans sounded like a countdown to your inevitable demise, a revolting memento mori. You desperately searched within yourself for a source of inner strength, something that could keep you alive. Your eyes trailed to Taka, who was firmly standing ahead of the pack by the door. His white uniform seemed to almost glow among the dim surroundings.

 _“I’m depending on you…”_ you thought. _“I mean, I’m counting on everyone to make sure we don’t die here, but you’ve been my crutch these past few days, and I need you now more than ever…”_

Finally, the elevator stopped, and the door opened, revealing a brightly decorated courtroom, something that looked straight out of a gameshow. Having it be the site for the decision of your fate was disturbing, to say the least. Monokuma ordered everyone to find their assigned seats. Yours was directly in front of Monokuma’s chair, with Hiro to your left and Hina to your right. Once everyone was situated, the class trial began. Taka immediately took action, proposing that everyone close their eyes and the killer raise their hand.

 _“Oh, Taka…”_ you sighed. _“How naïve of you… I know you’re my friend and all, but geez, you’re a real dummy if you thought that was going to work!”_

It was quickly decided to move onto a much more effective method of deducing the blackened, starting with determining the murder weapon, which after some discussion was revealed to be a knife that had gone missing from its set in the kitchen, and according to a testimony from Hina and Sakura, was taken by the victim herself. As all of this was going on, you found yourself not being able to contribute much, merely asking for confirmation of what had already been said. At first you felt useless just as you expected, but you quickly came to realize that most of the others were in the same boat as you, and you stopped beating yourself up for it.

With it being established that Sayaka took the knife, the suspicion was thrown off Makoto, until it was theorized that he could have taken the knife from her and killed her with it. However, it was quickly determined that since the murder was in Makoto’s room, there would be no explanation for why all the hair in the room had been cleaned up with his lint roller, since he would have no reason to hide his presence there. To further back up his claims of innocence, the doorknob on his bathroom door had been totally broken. The boys’ bathrooms didn’t have locks, but he was unfortunate enough to get a defective doorframe, so his wouldn’t open without a little trick Monokuma had shown him. The killer, not knowing the trick, had to unscrew the whole knob to open the door. Makoto was finally out of the woods, and it seemed his claims about him switching rooms with her were not lies at all. However, it was noted that for some reason, the nameplates for their rooms had been switched. Kyoko also showed everyone an imprint of a note she found of Sayaka inviting someone to come visit her room, making a specific point to check the nameplates. Everyone was confused as to why she would have done this, so they moved on to trying to figure the exact sequence of events that had transpired after she and the note’s recipient had met. However, in the very back of your mind, you had already figured it out. The reason she grabbed the knife, the reason she traded rooms and swapped their nameplates, and the reason she invited someone else over…

It was treason.

She was intending to murder, setting it up in a way that would make Makoto look suspicious. She would also betray the trust of whoever she invited, making that two people she double-crossed. This assumption was confirmed once it was determined that whoever had the knife had to have made the first move, as there were deep scratches in the sheath of the decorative sword that had likely broken her wrist.

 _“How could she do that to someone?”_ you thought. _“She and Makoto were friends, right? And to frame him like that?”_ You then instantly thought of Taka. _“Could my own friend ever do that to me? No, that can’t be! Makoto and the killer must have just been really gullible! They probably didn’t think twice about if they were being deceived or not! I’ve thought long and hard about all that junk already, and I know I can believe in him!”_ You looked at Taka, who was currently looking quite shocked from the revelation that the sweet Sayaka wasn’t as innocent as she seemed.

_“Thank you for being my friend… if you never stepped in, I would be in a much worse place right now. I’ve come so far these past few days with your help, and I’m not going to let one sleazy girl’s actions affect that!”_

You turned your focus back to the trial. At that point, discussion had seemed to hit a dead end. For a moment, it seemed there were no other clues, and no other leads. However, before all hope was lost, Makoto brought up a string of numbers written in blood that Sayaka was blocking. At first, the number 11307 didn’t seem to mean anything at all, but upon closer inspection, it resembled the letters L, E, O, and N when turned upside-down.

Leon, as in Leon Kuwata.

He insisted that it was a coincidence, and that there was no way he could have killed Sayaka. However, the shattered glass ball found in the mysteriously open trash room further gave the claim credence, as the ball could have definitely been used to open the room’s gate by throwing it to hit the switch, a feat totally feasible for the Ultimate Baseball Star. To finally incriminate him, he was confronted about whether or not he had ever opened his toolbox, a gift given to every boy by Monokuma. Makoto’s had never been opened, so the only way he would have been able to break the doorknob if he were to use his own. At this point, he had completely broken down and given up. It was then Monokuma demanded everyone to cast their votes. Refusing to do so would be an automatic execution. You nervously looked at the lever in front of you. Even when the answer was obvious, you were incredibly hesitant as you pulled it to Leon. What if despite all the evidence pointing to him, you were somehow all wrong? There was always a nonzero chance, and no matter how small it may be, it merely being a possibility was incredibly terrifying. Thankfully, the verdict was correct, and Monokuma announced that the one who killed Sayaka was indeed Leon Kuwata. The athlete panicked, trying to defend himself by claiming it was self-defense, but nobody bought it, not after he purposely broke into the bathroom even after disarming her. Monokuma similarly did not care. He killed her and was found out, and under the rules would now be put to death. Suddenly, from behind one of the courtroom curtains, a metallic claw attached to a long cord shot out and grabbed Leon by the neck. The curtain was pulled up, revealing a hallway. The claw was pulled back, sending him tumbling through the hall.

“Quick, follow him!” Kyoko shouted. Everyone dashed down the hall, possibly in the vain belief that it was somehow possible to rescue him. At the end of the hall was a chain-link fence gate, and behind it was Leon strapped onto a pole. In front of him was a ball pitching machine decorated to resemble a machine gun. A ball shot out of it, causing him to flinch in pain. Then, another came out. And another. And another, each getting fired at a faster rate than the previous one. You immediately saw where this was going. You remembered what happened when you saw Junko die, and you started to panic.

“I… I can’t watch!” you screamed. Without thinking, you grabbed ahold of Taka, who was standing right next to you, and shoved your face into his chest. You could hear him let out a small gasp of surprise. He said nothing, but after a few seconds, you could feel his hand on the back of your head. You began to sob, your tears getting his jacket all wet. Eventually, the sound of pitching machine stopped, followed by a long silence.

“Hey, (y/n), it’s over now,” he whispered to you, something you’d never thought he would do.

You pulled away from him. Although you told yourself not to look, curiosity got the best of you, and you turned around to see the now dead Leon, his body covered in black bruises. On the ground were hundreds of baseballs, many of which were splattered with a vivid crimson. As you stared in horror, the image was burned into your retinas, a haunting sight that was destined to stay with you for the rest of your life…

* * *

You stared at the ceiling for hours, your mind in full fight or flight mode, restless from the countless traumatizing events that had happened that day alone. No matter how hard you tried to shut your eyelids, they refused to budge. You felt unsafe and vulnerable, like a baby bird that fallen out of its nest. Even though the dorm rooms were very secure, you feared a murderer could jump at you at any moment. Your pupils were constantly darting back and forth, desperately searching for whatever danger your brain was imagining. It would decline any commands to shut down until it could be sure it was in a secure environment.

“Ugh!” You screamed. “What the hell will it take for me to fall asleep!?”

Then, you had an idea. There is strength in numbers. Maybe if you stayed with someone else, you’d feel safe enough to finally get some shut eye.

Of course, there was only one person you could turn to.

You left your room, fastwalking your way to Taka’s room. You pushed the doorbell on the wall and waited. About a minute later, the door opened, revealing a very tired looking Taka, dressed in a plain white shirt and black sweatpants. You could tell you had just woken him up.

“Oh… hello, (y/n)…” he groggily greeted. “Is something wrong?” He then let you inside and shut the door.

“Yeah, I can’t sleep,” you replied. “I came here because I don’t feel safe sleeping alone in my room, so I was wondering if I could maybe stay here with you just for the night? Of course, I know you probably wouldn’t like the idea because it’s ‘unwholesome’ and stuff, but I could sleep on the bathroom floor! That way we would be still be in separate rooms, and my mind can be at peace knowing there’s someone close by if I need them.”

“Uh, that’s…very thoughtful of you…” Taka responded, struggling to come up with the words. “But I couldn’t just let a guest sleep in the bathroom! What kind of host would I be then?” He suddenly roared with vigor, his sleepiness completely disappearing. “You coming to me means your mind is begging for quality sleep, so I will gladly forfeit my bed for your use! I will sleep on the floor instead!”

“What? No, you deserve a good night’s too!” you declined. “It’s like I barged in your room and kicked you off your own bed, that's rude!”

You spotted a stack of books on his desk. You then looked at his bed. It was a queen-sized mattress, just like yours, except his had a blue set of sheets while you had pink. At first, you were confused why the bed sizes were so large for a single-person room, but then you remembered how much of a sleazeball Monokuma was. He was probably watching right now from the view of the security camera on the ceiling, hoping to catch some raunchy action on tape. If that was the case, then today was his unlucky day, because the two of you were both the least likely kind of person to succumb to that. Although the thought was quite gross, it gave you an idea.

“Hey, why don’t we use those books to make a wall on the bed to divide it in two so we can both use it while keeping it modest? It’ll be a tight squeeze, but I think we can make it work!”

“Ah! What an amazing idea!” he complimented. “Let’s get that set up!”

The two of you then piled the books onto the bed, creating a high enough wall to where you couldn’t see each other while laying down.

“Haha, it worked!” you cheered. “Thank you very much Taka. Trust me, I’m not the most comfortable with this either, but I really appreciate your understanding.”

He nodded, and the two of you laid down on your makeshift twin beds. Well, it was quite smaller than a twin, and you found yourself only able to balance by laying on your side with your back to the books. However, you just managed to make it fit, and even though it was far from the best sleeping arrangement, it was far better than sleeping on the floor. With mere seconds of putting your head on one of his pillows, you quickly lost consciousness and drifted into slumberland.

* * *

You were running in the woods, running away from something, or someone. You didn’t know what it was, but you didn’t care, not bothering to stop and look back. It was after you, so you kept running, frantically weaving through the trees in an attempt to lose it. Eventually, you found yourself in a clearing, with vibrantly healthy grass and a billowing breeze you could feel on your skin. In the center of the clearing was Taka, who was turned away from you.

“Taka, help!” you yelled as you ran towards him. You sprinted as fast as you could, but it seemed you were getting no closer to him. You screamed even more, desperate to get his attention. Eventually, he turned around.

“(y/n)?” he said with confusion.

You kept on running.

“Uh…(y/n)?”

You felt a jolt. The meadow faded, becoming covered in complete darkness. You slowly opened your eyes, and you realized you had been dreaming. As your senses returned, you felt yourself holding onto something large. Whatever it was, you tightly squeezed it, and let out a groan as you gradually woke up.

“Oh good, you’re up now. Now, would you kindly let go of me?”

 _“Huh? What’s going o-“_

“YAH!” you screamed.

You found yourself in a tight embrace with Taka, hugging him from behind. The wall of books dividing you was completely toppled, its individual “bricks” scattered everywhere on and off the bed.

“Ohmygosh I’m SO sorry!” you apologized, immediately releasing him. “I must have tossed and turned in my sleep! I didn’t even consider that as a problem…”

“I know it wasn’t your intention, but this is… so scandalous!” he replied. “I didn’t want to share rooms with a girl, but I desperately wanted to help you. Well, as we can see, that doesn’t work for a reason, so let us agree to never try this again!”

“Yeah…” you agreed. “I’ll try to manage on my own tonight. Well, I better head back and get ready for breakfast…”

You bid him farewell and went back to your own room, where you changed out of your nightgown and into your uniform. The morning announcement came on as usual. However, Monokuma also ordered you all to gather in the gym again. At first, you were terrified. Nothing good ever came from forced gym assemblies. Soon, you saw the nightmare Monokuma had prepared for you all: aerobic exercise. He played cheery music as he called out various stretches. Nobody was bothering to participate, that was, except for Taka of course, who was eagerly following along, putting his whole self in the activity. Everyone else merely stood and watched in confusion. You saw as he pulled his limbs up and down, and you found yourself getting lost in the rhythm of the movement of his body.

 _“Aw heck, might as well.”_ You thought, as you suddenly decided to start joining in. For what exact reason why you wanted to, you were unsure, but perhaps it was the peer pressure from seeing your closest friend do it is what pushed you.

“And one, two, three, four!” Monokuma chanted.

“One! Two! Three! Four!” you and Taka repeated.

After the little exercise class was complete, Monokuma announced his real reason for calling everyone here: since a class trial was passed, more areas of the school would be opened up. Everyone then spent the day searching the school for these new places. Normally, you would just retreat to your room again and leave it to everyone else, but this seemed too important to not lend your efforts to. While unfortunately there was nothing in the realm of a possible escape route, there was a second floor with a library, a pool, locker rooms with exercise equipment, and on the first floor there was a warehouse filled with all kinds of goods, and a bathhouse. While you dreaded the prospect of living in this wretched hell school any longer, these facilities seemed to be capable of providing some fun times. Of course, you would have to muster the courage to leave your room first to make use of them, but they would serve as good motivation to continue with your own self-improvement.

After the nighttime bell rang, you finally returned to your room. You could tell that tonight was going to be much different from yesterday. While the dread was still just as strong, you felt like there was something inside you countering that. What it was, you had no idea. You decided not to dwell on identifying the mysterious sensation, so you turned off the lights and laid down. After a few minutes, you could feel that something was missing. It was then you decided to try something different. You grabbed the second pillow on your bed, and gave it a hug.

You had an instant burst of déjà vu.

_“It’s like how I hugged Taka in my sleep last night, huh?”_

_“Taka…”_

You closed your eyes, and imagined that the pillow in your arms was him. It was then you knew: something about that morning had awakened something deep within you. Even though the little incident was a complete accident, you found yourself wanting it to happen again. You wished that the plush pillow would somehow morph into his firm, sturdy body. All you wanted to do was cherish him, thank him for everything he’d done for you. He was your guardian angel, always watching out for you. He was literally the best kind of friend you could ever ask for, a friend you certainly didn’t deserve.

 _“Am I… really thinking these things about him?”_ you wondered. _“Is… is this really what I think it is? I just like him as a friend, right?”_

You felt your legs go weak.

_“Yeah, just a friend. He’s just a friend. A strong, dependable, kind and caring friend!”_

You imagined him holding you close and stroking your face lightly. His face was curled into a content smile, his thick brows accenting his piercing crimson eyes to sink even deeper into your soul.

_“Okay, a very handsome friend, but just because he’s objectively attractive doesn’t mean I… I…”_

You felt a sudden rush of every emotion possible. You began to happily cry, shoving your face into the pillow.

_“Oh, why do I bother trying to deny it? Yeah, I feel this way. I like him. He's so good to me… and… and… God, he's so cute…”_

From there, you were totally absorbed in your thoughts.

_“Angel you are… baby doll… Oh how I love you…”_

You kissed the pillow deeply, completely lost in your little fantasy. You quickly snapped back to reality. Your happiness at that moment was suddenly crushed with an awful realization. This was a killing game, and you had just fallen in love with a fellow participant. You were just asking for pain, weren’t you?

_“I can’t… I have to keep this a secret. If something happens to me, things will hurt so much less for him if he doesn’t know. I have to accept that.”_

_“I just have to accept that it’s just not meant to be.”_


	3. One of the Boys

It was lunchtime, and Taka picked you up as usual. You prepared your meal, and the two of you sat down together. It was the standard routine, but today you were particularly excited to see him. It wasn’t because you had realized your feelings for him last night, because you had no intention of ever letting him know, not as long as you were stuck in this vicious nightmare. Instead, there was something else on your mind: you were ready to take the next step in becoming free of your status as a hermit, and you would need his assistance as you usually did. You had planned to let him know of your idea earlier that day during breakfast, but everyone had been occupied with searching for Byakuya, who had neglected to attend the meeting. While his attitude on the killing game was incredibly worrying and made you feel scared of the mere thought of being in the same building as him, you knew as long as you had Taka with you, he couldn’t do anything to hurt you. Once the whole ordeal with him had passed, you finally found it opportune to finally pop your question.

“Hey, I’d like to go to the library,” you brought up. “I want to pick up some books that I can read in my room. Could you take me there later?”

As soon as he heard you say that, he beamed with delight. “Of course I will!” he replied. “Say, this is the first time you’ve wanted to voluntarily leave your room outside of mealtimes, right?”

You nodded, and he let out a hearty chuckle.

“That’s amazing, (y/n)! I’m so proud of you! I think the library is the perfect place to go for your first outing! So, when do you want to go?”

“As soon as we’re done eating!” you cheerily replied.

He nodded in response, and the two of you hurried to finish your meals. You then walked together up the stairs and to the library. Greeting you there were tall shelves hosting hundreds of books, journals, dissertations, and anything else you could think of to quench your intellectual thirst for knowledge. You were just about to get excited, but you saw that in the center of the room was Byakuya, who had once again returned to read. It was obvious that he noticed the two of you entering, but deliberately chose to ignore you.

“Pay him no mind, (y/n)!” Taka said to you. “Don’t feel pressure to rush your time here just because of him!”

You nodded, then began to browse the shelves, brushing off the thick layer of dust that sat on most of the books. You started with the fiction section. You found a collection of fairytales, as well as a romance novel about a man and woman shipwrecked on a deserted island together. In your mind, you knew exactly why you gravitated towards those two books, but you didn’t really care that you were indulging in thoughts best left fallow. With times like these, you needed a little escapism in your life. Of course, you didn’t want to pretend to yourself that you were in a scholarly place only to gather self-projecting material, so you headed to the non-fiction section. You perused its offerings, until you came across something.

“Oh look! They have a book about penguins!” you said happily. 

Hearing this, Taka removed himself from his own browsing and came up to you, looking at what you had found. You opened the book, revealing a full color image of a penguin colony.

“Penguins, huh?” Taka said. “Handsome creatures, aren’t they? They look so civilized and well dressed in sharp contrast to their wild surroundings…poetic, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, just like you!” you joked. You turned the page, showing a penguin with thick yellow brow stripes. “Look here, the erect-crested penguin, only found in New Zealand. You know, I think it looks like you!”

“What!? Are you serious?” he asked with confusion.

“Yeah, see? You’ve got a white suit and black hair already, so if you just dye your eyebrows blonde, I don’t think I’d be able to tell the difference!”

The two of you then erupted into laughter, the joyous noise filling the room. You almost forgot that someone else was there with you.

“Would you quiet down, or even more preferably, leave?” Byakuya shouted with annoyance. “I’m trying to read, and you’re being highly distracting.”

You rolled your eyes, but you respected his wishes, and your chortling was simmered down to a giggle before completely fading out.

“Yeah, I have what I need,” you told Taka. “Let’s get out of here.”

He nodded, and the two of you left, much to Byakuya’s delight. As you descended the stairs, you felt a dry pang in your throat.

“Gee, I’m thirsty…” you complained. “I need something to drink.”

“Then why don’t we take a stop at the dining hall?” Taka suggested.

“I actually have something else in mind,” you responded. “What if I get thirsty at night? The water gets shut off then, so I wouldn’t be able to drink from the sink or anything like that. You think the warehouse would have water bottles so I could have a nighttime stock?”

“I never even considered that! What a smart thought! I do recall seeing some in there, so let’s go grab you one!”

You took a detour to the warehouse, which you left holding a hot pink plastic refillable water bottle. After Taka dropped you off at your room, you filled it in the sink, then plopped down on your bed to enjoy the books you had taken from the library. You spent the rest of the day, as well as most of the next engrossed in your reading. Naturally, you were inserting yourself and Taka into the stories: he was the dashing knight in shining armor, and you were the princess in the tower awaiting her rescue. You were the couple on that island, who survived together in the harsh conditions of the wilderness, who wondered every day if they would ever see civilization ever again. You knew this fantasizing was not a good way to cope with your feelings that were dangerous to have reciprocated, but for a while, you felt a vague sense of happiness, artificial as it might be. Healthy or not, it gave you hope. You would get out of here one day, you just knew it. Your feelings wouldn’t have to stay locked up forever, because as soon as you and he escaped, you could tell him with no guilt attached. All you had to do was keep pushing towards that light at the end of the tunnel, and that happily ever after would one day be yours.

* * *

The evening of the day after the library visit, you were feeling on edge for reasons you couldn’t explain. Perhaps it was just nearing that time of the month… You considered taking a nice, hot shower to calm you down, but you knew that wouldn’t satisfy you. You needed something more all-encompassing. You needed a steaming hot bath. However, to do that, you would have to go to the bathhouse. You normally would go ask Taka to take you, but it seemed highly inappropriate for a boy to escort a girl to such a place. You would have to do the unthinkable: suck it up and go by yourself.

 _“Screw it, I need this!”_ you thought, grabbing your belongings and rushing to the bathhouse as fast as you could to avoid any potential interactions. As you stripped and stepped into the warm water, you felt your cares fade away. The only worry left on your mind was the fear of remaining there too long because despite finally committing the daring deed of leaving your room by yourself, your paranoia about everything still remained. You did your best to spend as little time in there as possible, washing yourself as fast as you could. One you were done, you quickly got out, got dressed, and rushed back to the safety of your room. The rest of your night was mostly uneventful. Eventually, it was closing in on nighttime, and you were ready for bed. However, there was a problem. Your throat was dryer than a desert. You needed some water, stat.

 _“Where’s my water bottle?”_ you thought, as you searched your room. Several minutes passed, but you couldn’t find it anywhere.

 _“What!? Where did I put that thing?”_ Your frisking became more desperate, and soon you were looking in places you had already checked like a madman.

“Need a little midnight drink?” you heard a voice behind you. You turned around to see Monokuma standing there. Shocked, you screamed at the top of your lungs in complete fear. The bear was here to kill you! You were about to turn tail and run out of there as fast as you could, but he stopped you.

“Geez, I’m just here to help you find your water bottle you ungrateful little twat!” he hissed.

“H-how did you know about that?” you stuttered.

“Well, I know you are missing something!” he replied. “And I know exactly where you left it! I saw you enter the bathhouse with a water bottle, but it wasn’t with you when you left!”

“Who has time to pay attention to that stuff!?” you asked. “Were you so bored that you stalked me on the security cameras!?”

“An excellent deduction, Miss (y/n)!” he replied. “But that doesn’t matter! You should head to the bathhouse pronto!”

“H-how do I know you’re not lying?” you confronted him. “There’s probably a murderer right on the way there, just waiting for someone to cross paths with them!”

“Relax, I’m, not lying to you!” he assured. “Plus, I’ve got a feeling there’s something else there you’ll like…”

“What? What’s that supposed to me-” before you could finish your sentence, Monokuma sunk into the ground and out of sight.

 _“Should I trust him on his word?”_ you internally debated. _“I’m totally parched… but journeying out that far this late could be really dangerous… but I’m so thirsty that’d I’d be more likely to die from that first… alright, I’ll guess I’ll do it…”_

Nervously, you exited the room and began to apprehensively traverse the halls. You arrived at the bathhouse, and you began to scan the floors for your bottle. You were quick to find it, having left it at the foot of one of the benches. You were about to leave, but you heard noises coming from the other room. Curious, you went into the bathing room, and saw Makoto peering into the window of the sauna door.

“Hey, Makoto,” you greeted him. “I heard something from the other room, what’s going on?”

He didn’t say a word, merely stepping aside so you could get a look. You pressed your face to the window and saw something most surprising. Inside the sauna was Mondo and Taka, screaming insults at each other. Mondo was wearing his complete uniform, heavy jacket and all. It was anguishing just thinking about wearing all that in such a hot room. Of course, that wasn’t the main attraction, because sitting next to him was Taka, who was in an attire much more appropriate for such a setting, that is no say, none at all. The only barrier for your innocent eyes was a towel on his waist. Everything else was exposed to the blazing elements. You wanted to avert your gaze, but the temptation to stare overcame it. His physique was gorgeous, something you never thought would be hiding beneath his uniform. His sweat poured down his perfectly toned muscles, which all tightened with the gritting of his teeth.

 _“Oh goodness…”_ you thought. _“Lady luck must really have it out for me to have my unobtainable crush be so… oh God, I don’t even want to think the word… I’ll just have thoughts I’m better off not having!”_

“What exactly is going on here?” you asked Makoto.

“I think they were having a fight, so they challenged each other to an endurance contest in the sauna,” he answered. “They asked me to be their referee. I think they’ve been at it for almost an hour at this point…”

“An hour!?” you said in shock. Without thinking, you yanked the door open with great force, and the scalding air of the sauna burst into your face.

The two turned to you.

“(y/n)?” Taka gasped, surprised to see you.

“Hey, tell your girlfriend to fuck off!” Mondo said to him. “Can’t she see we’re in the middle of something?”

“Can you watch your mouth for five seconds?” he reprimanded him. “But yes, (y/n), as you can see, we’re currently having a man-off, and having the door open will let all the air out, so would you please be so kind as to leave us be?”

“No!” you protested. “Can’t you see how dangerous this is? What if something happens to you?”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got all the strength in the world left in me, unlike this coward! He’s due to give up any second now!”

“I won’t let you!” you started to cry. “You could die in here, and I don’t know what I’ll do if I lose you!”

Your words seemed to slowly get to him, as he looked like he was struggling to come up with something to say.

“Why… are you out here on your own?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Look, it doesn’t matter,” you replied. “What matters is you take whatever problems you two are having and resolve them in a much safer way!”

“Yeah, like what?” Mondo said with snark. “When two men have beef with each other, you gotta bring his stupid ass down with a good old-fashioned duel!”

“Well, us members of the fairer sex have a little something we like to call ‘talking it out’! You should try it sometime!” you responded with an equal level of sass.

“Talking it out? Like hell I’m trying that girly shit!” Mondo shouted.

“No… maybe we should hear her out…” Taka butted in. “(y/n) is worried about me, so I don’t think she’s leave anytime soon. We might as well give her womanly ways a try.”

“Thank you…” you said. You opened the door wider, stepped out, and gestured at it. “Now get out of here before you’re fried to a crisp.”

Taka started to stand up, before realizing all he had to cover him was his towel. “Oh my gosh! I’m this immodest in front of a girl!? Why didn’t I realize that? Hey, Makoto?”

“Uh, yeah?” he responded.

“Grab me my pants, would you? I can’t let (y/n) see me like this!”

He did just that, snatching the dove white trousers and passing it to him. Meanwhile, Mondo exited the sauna, standing in front of the door to block the view from the outside.

“Listen chick,” he said to you. “I’d rather die than go through this little talk, but you convinced my opponent here that this is how it’s going down, so this better work, or you robbed me of a perfectly good victory. And trust me, you do not want to take a man from his well-deserved victory…”

You nervously nodded, intimidated by the man staring down at you. Shortly after, the sauna door opened, and Taka walked out.

“Good, now the two of you sit here!” you pointed at one of the benches. They obliged, firmly placing their bottoms down on it.

“Now, there is to be no more insulting each other! You tell him what’s bothering you, and you do the same! There you can come to a mutual understanding and finally end this conflict of yours!”

They rolled their eyes, not believing your feminine methods would work at all, but then Mondo spoke, turning to you and Makoto.

“Could the two of you at least leave us alone? I don’t want to have a serious conversation in front of more people than I have to.”

“Promise you won’t go back into the sauna?” you questioned.

“We promise,” Taka replied. “Now you get some sleep, (y/n). I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

You nodded, and Makoto followed you as you exited the bathhouse.

“Thanks for diffusing that situation,” he said. “Taka seems to trust you, so it’s good you were able to be there to stop him from doing anything stupid. I kept asking them if they had enough, but they shut me down every time… There was nothing I could do, and I was getting tempted to just leave them there…”

You grinned. “I’m sure after they have a nice talk, they’ll realize that their fight isn’t worth the energy and they’ll finally back down.”

* * *

It had gone a little too well. As the two began digging deep into the issues ailing them, they found themselves empathizing with each other. That mutual understanding quickly grew into a strong brotherhood, and the two stayed up for hours discussing several more casual topics.

“So, what kind of girls are you into?” Mondo asked him.

“I’m not entirely sure…” Taka replied. “Probably a woman who is a good mother and can raise respectable young ladies and gentlemen!”

“You can’t tell that about a girl just by looking at her!” Mondo laughed. “Ok, let me rephrase the question a bit. Not saying it’s gonna happen, but just hear me out: imagine if there’s really no way out of this hellhole, and that we’re stuck here for the rest of our lives. There’s a chance you’ll have to pick from one of the girls here, so who among them would you say is your type?”

“What!? You can’t just put me on the spot like that!”

“What about that (y/n) girl? She follows you around all the time like a baby duckling, doesn’t she? I think she likes you, bro.”

“You can’t be serious!” Taka had a look of complete bewilderment on his face. “I thought she was doing that because I was basically her caretaker! I’m helping her get more comfortable here, and she needs that support. That’s why as she’s been opening herself up, she’s been gravitating towards me so much!”

“Come on man, you say she’s been improving on that shut-in stuff, but why so fast and sudden? She’s motivated, bro. She’s totally got the hots for you.”

“Really? I don’t know, and I don’t want to assume how she feels…” He looked down in a contemplative stare. “Should… should I ask her about it?”

“Better, you should totally ask her out.”

“Ask her… out?”

“Yeah, like on a date!”

“Hold on just a second! Now I don’t know how to feel about this!”

“What? You don’t like her?”

“No, it’s not that I don’t! I do! She’s a lovely young lady! And…” his face had become as red as a strawberry. “The growth I’ve seen in her these past few days is… it’s beautiful. She’s trying so hard to better herself in spite of everything, and I find that really admirable… She’s like a fragile little flower blossoming into the woman she was meant to be… and I’m so glad I get to watch it happen…”

“Sounds like a confession to me,” Mondo snickered.

“Maybe…” Taka smiled. “Yeah… a flower… beautiful… delicate… in need of protection…”

“Heh, I knew it. Alright, mister lovebird. You’re going to walk up to her tomorrow, and you’re going to tell her how you feel!”

His shy smile turns into a frown. “No, at least not yet…”

“What? Why not?”

“I’ve never thought of her in that way before. I’ve just thought of her as a friend. I’m not sure what if what I’m feeling right now is really that. I think I need some time to sort it out and really understand it first…”

“Well if that’s the case, then more power to you, bro. Just know if you’re ever considering taking that plunge, I’m here to give you a man’s support!”

He gave him a happy nod, and the two of them continued their conversation late into the night.

* * *

It was morning. Time for the breakfast meeting. You quickly got ready and opened the door to your room. However, to your surprise, there were two people outside your door. Mondo was also there, standing next to Taka.

“Good morning, (y/n)!” Taka greeted with a smile. “Mondo and I really owe you big time!”

“Oh, were you two able to solve your problem?” you asked.

“Even better!” Mondo cheerily replied. “The past is in the past! We’ve forged a brotherhood as strong as steel! That girly shit really worked!”

“I’m so happy to hear that!” you said. “Good for you!”

“Mind if he joins us at breakfast?” Taka asked you.

“Yeah, you might be a girl, but consider yourself an honorary bro!” Mondo added.

“Yeah, sure thing!” you answered. “The more the merrier.”

Mondo gave you a noogie, and you yelped in surprise. You all laughed, then made your way to the dining hall. It was a very eventful breakfast meeting to say the least. Mondo and Taka kept boasting to all the other students about the miracle of their newfound friendship. You felt very good for your friend. He finally had that male connection he’d always been looking for. Boys were a whole different creature when they were with each other, and you loved that about them. After breakfast had concluded, the two boys invited you to come work out with them. The three of you then went to the locker rooms, carrying out the equipment from both the girls’ and boys’ room to the common area. First, you helped each other do reps. You grabbed ahold of a dumbbell and started lifting.

“No, bend your elbows like this!” Taka corrected your form. He grabbed onto your arm, shifting its position. “There, that should make things easier!”

As you performed various exercises and got tips from the boys, you slowly began to get worn out. It had been a while since you last had significant physical activity, and you were pretty out of shape. On the contrary, Mondo and Taka were full of energy, and after you sat it out to take a rest, they started having a push up contest. Their arms bounced up and down like pistons at a fast pace. You tried counting them, but you quickly lost track. After a few minutes, they gradually slowed down. You then noticed Taka’s eyes shifting towards you, and his pace seemed to increase.

 _“Is… he trying to impress me?”_ you thought. _“No, of course not. I must be imagining it…”_

Taka rode his burst of speed until the very end, as Mondo continued to slow down, until he finally collapsed on the ground.

“Jesus, man…” he groaned. “Are you hyped up on sugar or something?”

“Of course not!” Taka replied. “Why would I do something so unhealthy?”

“Well, you won fair and square bro… anyway, I think I’m done for now…” Mondo turned his attention towards you. “I think she’s out of it too. Why don’t we all call it quits?”

Taka agreed, and the three of you returned the exercise equipment to their respective locker rooms. After that, the boys dropped you off at your room, and you spent the rest of the day reading. As night fell, you were preparing yourself for bed, but the nighttime announcement came with a surprise. Monokuma had once again called you all the gym.

 _“Oh no, what is it this time…”_ you thought with dread. However, you knew you had no other choice. As you left your room and made your way to the gym as Monokuma had commanded, you were completely unaware that your life was about to change forever, because at that moment there was someone watching you, someone who knew something you thought was just your little secret...


	4. Our Brief Escape

A motive.

Of course it was another motive.

Recalling the horrifying video of your family, you were terrified out of your wits for what Monokuma had planned next.

He then held up envelopes, each with a person’s name on it. According to him, they contained each student’s deepest, darkest secrets. Upon hearing this, you felt a little relieved. His new motive certainly didn’t sound pleasant, but it seemed much more manageable than what came before. He threw the envelopes onto the ground, and everyone scrambled to grab theirs. As you found yours, you slowly opened it, huddling over it so nobody would be able to see it. Inside was a single piece of paper, and in large bold text, a single sentence:

_“(y/n) is madly in love with Kiyotaka Ishimaru.”_

_“Oh…”_ you felt your stomach go weak.

_“Oh no…”_

_”Oh nononononono…”_

Monokuma then gave the ultimatum: somebody must become the blackened within 24 hours, or everyone’s secrets would be exposed to the outside world. You stared at the piece of paper in your hands. At first, you were completely perplexed by how he knew something you had never told anyone. However, you remembered your interaction with him yesterday:

_“Relax, I’m, not lying to you! Plus, I’ve got a feeling there’s something else there you’ll like…”_

That “something else” couldn’t have been anything but Taka. He must have seen him go into the bathhouse with Mondo. He was probably hoping that you would go and peep on him while you were there because he was a nasty thing with no regard for morals. That means at that point, he must have figured out you liked him somehow. How exactly, you didn’t have a clue. However, considering how the whole killing game was psychologically designed to bring absolute despair to everyone every day, it wouldn’t be a stretch to assume that the mastermind was very good at seeing through people, understanding everything about human behavior and could notice things you would never even think of.

After Monokuma had left, Taka came up with a very smart plan: if everyone were to share their secrets with the rest of the class, then Monokuma’s motive would lose a lot of its potency. However, as he was about to get that ball rolling sharing by his own secret, he was interrupted, and the others stubbornly refused to do the same. He seemed to be giving in to them and was backing down on the idea, postponing the talk to tomorrow.

“Hey, he’s right you know!” you suddenly objected. “Why are you all being like this? Like it or not, Monokuma knows all these things about us, and we all have to accept that these secrets of ours are effectively done for. It’s all going to be revealed tomorrow anyway, so just get it out of your system now, because the more time we let this linger in our minds, the more chances we open ourselves for something bad to happen! In fact, that’s what I’m going to do right now!” You let out a heavy sigh and looked at your paper one last time. At first, you were paralyzed with fear at the prospect of having to confess. Admitting your feelings was already one of the hardest things imaginable, but here your secret would hurt others more than it would hurt you. Although you greatly valued Taka and his friendship, you didn’t want for him to have to care about you any more than he already did. The harsh reality was that in this killing game, people had died, and there was a chance that it could happen again. He didn’t deserve that pain. He shouldn’t have to live with all that extra emotional baggage that he could lose at any moment. However, you would much rather him hear it from you than from Monokuma. You let out a heavy sigh. You felt like all the gravity in the universe was on you at that moment. You held up your jittering hand up to Taka, the paper clutched firmly in your fist. “Here. Take it.”

 _“I’m sorry…”_ you thought as he pried it from your fingers. He unfolded the paper, and as he read its contents, his eyes widened, and his face became flushed.

“(y/n)…?” he struggled to say, the words just barely escaping his lips. “Is…is this really true? Do you… really think of me that way?”

You gave no response, merely staring at the floor with a dejected look. The other students instantly knew what was happening.

“A crush? How childish,” Byakuya spoke venomously. “I don’t how naïve you are but being embarrassed over liking a boy is far from what others here have had to deal with, I imagine. I sincerely doubt that you’ll be able to change anyone’s minds about sharing their secrets.”

“Y-yeah!” Toko agreed. “Some of us have bigger problems in life, you know… You can share yours all you want, but I don’t want to!”

“I’m sorry…” Chihiro said. “I’m just not confident enough to do it yet…maybe tomorrow...”

You continued to stare down in sadness. Your little gambit had failed. People then began to dismiss themselves after the nighttime bell, but you and Taka stayed behind.

“Do you want to talk about this?” he asked you timidly.

You nodded. “Yeah, let’s go to one of the classrooms. There’s way too much of an echo in here for my liking…”

You exited the gym and entered the nearest classroom. You looked into each other’s eyes, which were filled with an awkward nervousness.

“It… was really brave of you to come forward like that…” Taka said. “I was really disappointed that nobody followed in your example…”

“Thanks…” you replied. “But aren’t we getting a little off topic? I guess I should explain myself…”

“Yeah… you like me, right?”

You gave a slow nod. “It’s true… I have feelings for you, Taka. I’ve never told you… because I was scared…”

“I understand,” He responded. “I can see why something like that would be so intimidating.”

You shook your head. You were starting to get emotional, and you were struggling to hold back tears. “No, it’s not that… I was scared that if you knew, you’d get too attached to me... think about it… if you liked me back and I died, wouldn’t that just make the pain so much worse?”

“No, of course not…” he replied. “It would be as much of a tragedy if you died yesterday than if you died now. It doesn’t matter what your relation to someone close to you is, because loss is felt all the same.”

“R-really?” you asked. “Then I’m glad… I don’t have to live with this on my chest anymore… thank you…”

“Not a problem. Say, I have something I need to fess up too…”

“Huh?” you said in surprise.

“Mondo and I were talking last night, and he helped me realize something. (y/n)… I… I think you’re beautiful…”

“What!? You…you really like me back?”

He gave a shy nod. “Yeah… I think I do… I… think I’ve fallen in love…”

You completely lost control. The floodgates were blown down, and you embraced him as you let out the loudest sobs of your life. He was taken a bit aback, but he sighed contently.

“(y/n)… tell me… why do you like me?”

You looked up at his adoring face, and you were filled with a loving warmth. “Everything! I love you so much… you’re such an admirable gentleman… you’re always there for me, and you’ve got really nice abs!”

“Wait, what?” he let out a confused laugh.

You forced a giggle out of your weeping. “I saw you in that sauna, Adonis. I’m surprised you’re not drowning in the ladies already…”

He chuckled heartily. “Well thank you. I’m flattered.”

“You’re too perfect…” you happily sighed. “You deserve way better than me…”

“Don’t you dare think of yourself that way!” he sternly responded. “You’re a virtuous young lady, and that’s all I could ever ask for!”

“Even though I’m a sniveling coward who thinks everyone is out to get me? Does that sound like an admirable character trait to you?”

“But you’ve dedicated yourself to changing that, haven’t you? You’ve come so far, too. Watching you grow has just been the most marvelous thing…”

You smiled, wiping your eyes to clear the tears obscuring your vision. “Yeah, you’re right…just yesterday I went to the bathhouse on my own! And then I went a second time later at night where I saw you! I didn’t think of it much, but I guess in hindsight, I’m really proud of myself for that.”

“I’m proud of you too,” he replied. “You have so much potential, and you’re working so hard to overcome what’s keeping you from reaching it. I want to be by your side to help you get there!”

“Taka…” you gasped, saying not much else. “Thank you…”

The two of you stood there in silence, merely enjoying each other’s embrace. After a while, you spoke up.

“You’re really stiff. Is something wrong?”

“Huh?” he said, confused. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re all tensed up. It’s like your brain doesn’t know how to process any of this.” You look to the corner of the room. “Why don’t we go sit over there? It’ll probably be more relaxing that way.”

“Uh, okay…” he agreed. The two of you walked over to the wall. He set his back to the wall and sat down. You followed, sitting in his lap sideways, as you hugged him once again.

“You’re all touchy…” he nervously laughed.

“Oh… sorry if I’m bothering you…” you apologized.

“No worries, you’re not overstepping anything! I’ve…never had anyone hold me like this before…”

“That’s good,” you responded. “So…I have something to ask you. I hope it doesn’t sound too weird, but it’s something I’ve always wanted to do…”

“Ask away!”

“Can…can I touch your hair?”

“Huh?” he said. “Well sure, I guess…”

Immediately after getting his permission, your hands reached out for his spiky raven locks. As they made contact, you gasped in surprise.

“You’re so soft!” you happily chirped. “It’s like I’m petting a kitten!”

“Really?” he asked. “I mean, I always groom myself every day to make sure I’m presentable, but I’m glad you like it so much.”

You continued stroking his head, your fingers enjoying the firm yet silky texture. Your hands then slid down the sides of his face, stopping at his temples. You then started rubbing his eyebrows with your thumbs.

“Hey!” he giggled.

“I’m sorry!” you also started laughing. “I just couldn’t help myself.”

You then shifted your position, changing from sitting in his lap to kneeling in front of him. Within you, your emotions had reached a boiling point. You can’t believe you were doing this, that you had the upmost privilege of being this close to him right now. You debated to yourself if you wanted to go through with this. What if he didn’t like it? He probably had never had this level of human contact in his life. You quickly came to the conclusion that it was probably best to just ask him.

“Uh…can…I…uh…” you stammered. You felt your face burn with anxiety. “Could…you maybe kiss me?”

“A kiss!?” he said in disbelief. “I like you…but I’m not sure…is that really something we should be doing?”

“I promise I won’t do anything gross,” you assured. “Just a quick, clean smooch.”

“Well, if we’re going to do this, we need it to be official! Tell me, (y/n). Will you be my girlfriend?”

“Yes, of course!” you loudly replied. “I want you so bad!”

You pulled in his face and planted a kiss on his lips. His eyes widened in surprise, before he closed them in pure bliss. He leaned into you, his arms reaching around your head and back. You responded in turn by wrapping yours around his, and soon you were both lying on the floor, lost in the passionate exchange. Any rigidness in his body had completely faded, as he completely melted in your embrace. He pulled his lips away and began caressing your hair.

“You’re beautiful…” he sensually muttered. “I’m so glad you think of me this way. I’ll do everything in my power to protect you so we can escape together one day! And once we’re out of here, I’ll find the most beautiful church in the country and we’ll get married!”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” you chuckled. “But I certainly wouldn’t mind… I love you, Taka.”

Upon hearing those words, he burst into tears. “(y/n)…I love you too! I am never going to leave your side!”

“Well, good news for you. Ironically, you won’t have to be at my side all the time anymore!”

“Huh?”

“I think I’ve overcome the shut-in thing completely now. After going to the bathhouse by myself, I feel confident in myself to go anywhere I need now. Of course, I’d love for you to tag along, but it would be because I want your company, not because I need it.”

“How wonderful...” he sighed. He then began to touch your face. You let out a content purr. It was just like you had dreamed it would be, down to his warm smile. “I love you, my beautiful flower.”

“Flower? Aww, that’s so adorable!” you cooed.

His smile became bigger. “Yes, you’ve grown and blossomed just like a beautiful flower, the loveliest I have ever seen.” He leaned in again to give you another kiss, which you gladly accepted. This one was even deeper and lasted longer than the last. His lips were firm and sturdy, able to lock onto yours with ease. You went into a state of pure ecstasy, not wanting the moment to end. However, since fate was cruel, he eventually pulled away, with a look of satisfaction on his face.

“That was a bit more than a ‘quick, clean smooch’, huh?” he nervously laughed. “I think we were able to successfully stay within the boundaries of an acceptable relationship though, so we’re good.”

 _“Oh, you sweet summer child…”_ you thought. _“You’re lucky I’m a good girl of good morals because any other girl would have tried to push you farther…”_ You quickly shook off the thought, merely giving him an assuring nod, turning your attention to the security camera. “Don’t worry. Monokuma’s probably real pissed right now because he gets the disappointment of watching two teenagers who know how to behave themselves.”

Taka laughed. “Hahaha! Just another reason I love you! Now, it’s getting late. It’s high time we get some sleep!”

You nodded, and the two of you got up and walked to the dorm rooms. You stopped in front of his, and gave him a chaste peck on the cheek. “Goodnight, my handsome prince.”

He chuckled and gave you one on the forehead. “See you in the morning.”

After seeing him disappear behind his door, you retired to your room with high spirits, feeling as light as a feather. The deepest desires of your heart had suddenly come true. You almost wanted to convince yourself that it was all just a dream, so you wouldn’t have to feel crushing disappointment when you woke up. However, it felt so real: that time you spent with him in that classroom was so heavenly that not even the most wishful part of your imagination could ever hope to replicate it. You knew there was no happiness to be found at Hope’s Peak Academy, but for that one short moment of time, you had transcended the boundaries of your prison and were able to feel true joy.


	5. Trading Faces

“Come on Juliet, rise and shine!”

_“Huh? Who’s there?”_ you wondered, your consciousness barely holding itself together. You forced your paralyzed body to awaken, and as your eyes opened, you were greeted with the sight of Monokuma standing beside your bed. You entered flight or flight mode as you let out a bloodcurdling scream.

“Good morning, Miss (y/n)!” he said with a faux innocence.

“Go away!” You yelled, as you flailed your limbs to scramble away from him.

“Oh come now, no need to be so rude! I mean, don’t you want to find out what happened to one of your classmates?”

_“Something… happened to one of one of my classmates?”_ you repeated in your head, trying to verify what you had just heard. _“Oh no, Taka!”_

You leaped out of your bed and rushed to the door, running past Monokuma. As you turned the handle, you saw Taka standing right outside with a startled look on his face.

“Oh, (y/n)! Thank God you’re safe!” he said with a tone of desperation. He held you tightly. “Did Monokuma tell you too? I knew the moment I heard it I had to check on you."

You nodded. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. But if was neither of us, then who?”

“Let’s look together,” he proposed. “Someone’s in trouble, we have to find them!”

You both then scoured the school, searching for whatever grave situation Monokuma had awoken you for. After having no luck on the first floor, you went to the second and continued looking. After exiting one of the classrooms that you were done checking, you heard a scream.

“It’s coming from the locker rooms!” Taka said. “Let’s hurry!” He then ran there as fast as he could, and you followed behind him, trying your best to keep up. You entered the locker room common area and saw that the door to the girls’ room was open. He went on in ahead of you.

“Hey, I heard screaming! Did something-?” he stopped in the middle of his sentence before letting out a horrified shriek of his own. “GYAAHHH! (Y/N), DON’T COME IN!”

Before you could inquire just what was going on, the monitors chimed, and Monokuma appeared on screen. It was the body discovery announcement.

_“Someone in there… is dead?”_ you ignored Taka’s warning and entered the room, where you saw something most gruesome: Chihiro Fujisaki was in a crucified position, her hands tied to the exercise equipment, high enough to suspend her entire body. On the wall was the phrase “bloodlust”, written in blood. You instantly regretted not listening to him, your body going weak as you started babbling incoherently. Seeing your distress, Taka took you in his arms, stroking your hair in an attempt to comfort you.

“Oh please, there’s been a murder. Can it with the mushy junk,” said Byakuya, who was standing beside Makoto. They had been the ones to discover Chihiro’s corpse, and it had been Makoto’s scream that alerted you to them. “Go round up the others. She stays here.”

He reluctantly nodded as he pulled away from you and sprinted out. Not long after, the rest of the class began to file in, as they all gasped in disgust and fear at the sight before them. Soon, the collective attention turned to the strange message on the wall. “Bloodlust” was the phrase used by the infamous urban legend serial killer, Genocide Jack. You thought the idea that such a terrifying individual was in this very school was preposterous, but some of the others thought otherwise. Before you had the chance to ponder it further, Toko, the only student who hadn’t arrived yet, finally showed up, but upon gazing upon Chihiro’s bloody body, she immediately fainted, and almost as fast as she fell, she sprang up again, looking very out of it. As she rambled nonsense, it was evident that she needed some rest. Hina volunteered to help her back to her room and requested Taka’s help to carry her out. Soon enough, Monokuma arrived to confirm there was indeed another homicide among the class and handed everyone a Monokuma File. The second investigation of the killing game was on. Usually, you would follow Taka and help him with whatever he was doing, but he was currently occupied helping Toko back to her room, a task that really didn’t require anyone other than him and Hina. You would be much more useful if you did some investigating on your own. You decided to look in the pool. It was adjacent to the crime scene and could be hiding some important clues. Unfortunately, your hunch was incorrect, as you came out empty handed, even after searching every square inch of the area. You were about to give up and go look elsewhere, but the bell sounded, and Monokuma called everyone to the trial grounds. Disheartened, you moped back downstairs. However, your mood was brightened a bit after you reunited with Taka.

“Ah, there you are (y/n)!” he greeted you. “How did your investigation go?”

“Not good,” you frowned. “I spent all my time at the pool, but I didn’t find anything.”

“That’s alright, what you did was pretty smart. I’m surprised nothing turned up there.”

You nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you’re right. How about you? How is Toko doing?”

“Actually, she started acting very strange…” he said in a concerned tone. “She doesn’t want to leave her room when we went to check on her, and she was saying some really peculiar things…”

“That doesn’t sound good…but I know you did everything you could.”

“Thank you for your kind words, (y/n). I really appreciate it.” He then took hold of your hands as he gazed into your eyes. “Let’s get through this class trial together. I know I’ll fight even harder this time, because there’s even more on the line now: you, bro, and everyone else…we’ll find whoever did this to poor Chihiro!”

“But… what if these are our last moments, right now?” you said with worry as your eyes nervously looked to the ground. “What if we just got lucky last time? I’m scared, Taka…”

“Don’t worry, I believe in us!” he confidently grinned. “The good guys always win in the end, don’t they?”

“Yeah, but is it really ‘winning’?” you argued. “No matter the outcome, somebody is going to die. I’m trying to prepare myself for that. Honestly, it might be easier to make peace with my own demise than be ready to stomach whatever Monokuma has planned for the perpetrator…”

“Yeah…” he muttered. “I guess the best I can do is give you my strength, and you can give some to me.”

You shyly smiled. “Yeah… without you I would have given into despair long ago…” You then leaned in for a kiss, which he happily accepted. “And if this really where my life ends, I’m glad it ended on such a high note.”

Taka began to sob. “(y/n)… that’s so beautiful! But I won’t let that happen! As long as you’re in my heart, nothing bad will ever happen to you, I promise!”

Your other classmates looked on in annoyance, irritated by your cheesy exchanges. It was almost relieving when Monokuma popped into the room. He noted that someone was missing. Toko was still in her room. He then left to bring her in, and moments later, he returned, literally dragging her in by the collar. She was screaming in protest, but she had little choice but to give in and take part in the trial. The elevator opened, and you took Taka’s hand. You gave each other reassuring nods and stepped into the lift together. It descended slowly, clanking along as if had little care for the precious lives it was carrying to their doom. You held your boyfriend closer, fighting back against the sensations of fear and unease permeating through your entire being. Eventually, it came to a stop, and the door opened. Inside was the trial grounds, which had gone through a renovation since the last class trial. Its color scheme was now was comprised of bright golds. Monokuma proudly pointed out his penchant for interior design as everyone made their way to their assigned seats. While you weren’t happy about having to let go of Taka, you were pretty grateful that you were at least at a seat where you could see his face pretty easily.

Just like last time, the first point of discussion was the murder weapon. This was quickly determined to be a bloody dumbbell found at the crime scene. Kyoko confirmed this, stating the shape of the wound on Chihiro’s head matched perfectly with it. Once that was settled, the next topic was moved to the culprit themselves. Byakuya claimed that the only one who could have murdered Chihiro was Genocide Jack, since the murder scene was set up just like how the famous killer set up all his victims. Apparently, the exact details of these scenes were information known only by the police. The only reason Byakuya knew these things was because he had access to a copy of the confidential files in the school’s archive. Why the school had such a thing was a scary thought, but now wasn’t the time to wonder about the implications of that. Then Byakuya dropped a bombshell reveal: Genocide Jack was one of the students among you, precisely, his true identity was the Ultimate Writing Prodigy, Toko Fukawa. You didn’t believe it. There was no way one of your classmates was a world-renowned serial killer. But when he started explaining, it started to make sense: after she passed out from seeing Chihiro’s body, she was acting very strange when she got up, and even if Toko herself was highly hemophobic, she could easily have a split personality disorder, and that other side of her could have no issue with blood and gore. The reason she had refused to leave her room was because she didn’t want her Genocide Jack persona to run free. Even if it did seem to add up, it was so ridiculous that you weren’t inclined to accept it as the truth. However, Byakuya ended his argument that revealing Toko herself had told him, in exchange for promising he would go on a date with her, a deal he denied taking.

“Puhuhu!” Monokuma evilly chuckled. “It seems there’s love in the air in our little killing game! First the honor student and the hermit girl, now the rich boy and the serial killer? Wowie, things are really heating up!”

“Can it, bear,” Byakuya hissed. He then demanded Toko to have Jack present herself. She let out an wail of agony as she collapsed to the ground. Before you had a moment to question what was going on, she was back on her feet with a demented smile on her face. It was really her: Genocide Jack, or to be more accurate, Genocide Jill. She was completely off her rocker, manically laughing and going on deranged tangents. She was nothing like the melancholic and bashful girl your classmates had come to know. You were already worried about having to share a roof with Byakuya, but at least he wasn’t a murderer. While it was wrong to wish death on someone, you felt a little relieved that she was probably the blackened, and once you convicted her, the halls of Hope’s Peak would be a little bit safer. The motives lined up perfectly too: it was logical that Toko would want to kill to keep her alter ego a secret. It seemed like it was case closed, but Jill denied having any involvement in the murder. Of course, nobody believed her with her being an evil serial killer and everything, but Makoto raised an important objection: the way Chihiro’s body was arranged wasn’t one-to-one with the other Genocide Jack cases. Each of her victims was stabbed and suspended with scissors, whereas Chihiro was tied up. Additionally, every victim of hers was male, whereas Chihiro was a girl. However, it was argued that these formalities weren’t possible in the killing game, where her options would be much more limited. Jill was quite offended by this, saying doing a such a thing would violate her personal killing philosophy, whatever that was supposed to be. She refused to kill boys, and she refused to kill without her personal scissors. You really hoped that she was true to her word because that means she wouldn’t have you in her sights, and although she might go after your boyfriend instead, she wouldn’t have her usual means of hurting him. That was, until she whipped out a whole arsenal of her trademark scissors. You screamed in horror.

_“I can’t believe I was in a room with this maniac! If she touches Taka, I swear to God…”_

She was fully capable of murdering someone here then. But if she was being honest, then Chihiro’s murder couldn’t have done by been her, but a copycat instead. However, the Genocide Jack style of murder was something only known by the police… and one other person: Byakuya. Throwing more suspicion on him, according to Makoto, when he and Byakuya discovered the body, he proposed to check the girls’ room first, which was the scene of the crime. Additionally, the rope used to suspend Chihiro was an extension cord which Byakuya frequently used in the library. There. Case closed again. Everyone was in the same boat that it couldn’t have been anyone but him. However, Makoto was unsure. He said that something was off with the crime scene, that perhaps Chihiro was killed elsewhere, then moved to the girls’ locker room. For one, the posters in each room seemed pretty unfitting: there was the bloodstained pin-up girl in the girls’ locker room, and boy band poster in the boys’ room. Additionally, the carpet in the boys’ room had a stain on it, which Sakura recognized from when she dropped her protein coffee. All this suggested that Chihiro was killed in the boys’ room, and the murderer switched around several of the items between the two. Of course, there was the question of how Chihiro got into the boys’ room in the first place, since opening a locker room required scanning an e-Handbook of the matching gender. Taka suggested that she used her skills as the Ultimate Programmer to hack it and give her access to the other sex’s room.

“That’s so smart of you!” you praised him. “Just what I expect from my Takabear!”

“Excuse me, but I am the only bear around here!” Monokuma interjected. “Anyways, you can’t hack an e-Handbook! If you try to crack it open, there’s a security buzzer that goes off!”

You were bummed that your boyfriend’s brilliant idea turned about to be wrong, but you had to move on and consider the other possibilities. There were the e-Handbooks of the deceased students found in the main hall, and Chihiro could have used Leon’s, but his was mysteriously broken for some reason, so even that wasn’t an option. That meant Chihiro never went into the boys’ room, and Makoto had simply been mistaken. Before everyone gave up on the idea and stuck with believing that it could only have been Byakuya, Kyoko interrupted to suggest another solution. When inquired about what she was thinking, she suggested taking a break from the trial to return to the crime scene. Monokuma agreed to the little field trip, on the promise that it would reveal something that would make the class trial more exciting. Everyone made their way out of the trial grounds and back to the second floor. The whole time, Taka was standing by your side, instinctually standing between you and Jill as he eyed her with distrust. Eventually, everyone had arrived in the girls’ locker room, where Kyoko instructed someone to do a complete search of Chihiro’s body. Sakura volunteered, and as she patted the corpse down, she suddenly stopped, and let out a loud yelp of shock. When asked about it, Sakura revealed her findings:

Chihiro was a boy.

“What!?” you gasped in surprise. “Is that really true?” Your classmates had so many strange secrets: Toko was a serial killer, Chihiro was a crossdresser… you then wondered what crazy things the others could be hiding from you. What was next? Was Hiro an alien, or Makoto a time-travelling cyborg? Perhaps Taka was actually an angel sent from heaven?

_“Okay, maybe that last one is actually plausible…”_

As surprising as the truth was, it was a crucial piece of the puzzle for solving the case. Everyone returned to the trial grounds, and court was back in session. It began with Makoto arguing that Byakuya probably wasn’t the murderer, citing his surprise at the revelations of the true location of the crime scene, as well as Chihiro’s gender, as if it had actually been him these things wouldn’t shock him at all. He had only dressed up the crime scene to look like a Genocide Jack case, but he was not the one who killed Chihiro. It was an interesting insight, but it seemed like too shaky of a foundation to totally let him off the hook. Byakuya was a mystery and a half with his questionable behavior, so a reaction from him didn’t seem like something that could be reasonably relied on. Everyone seemed to agree, but Kyoko proposed everyone continue to consider other possibilities. The jury’s opinion instantly shifted to being in favor of this idea, which Taka was considerably frustrated about. The discussion continued. First, it was confirmed that the killer must also be a boy, since they were able to access the boys’ locker room. Makoto then mentioned that he had spoken with Celeste, and she said that she saw Chihiro the night he died. She then gave her testimony: she had run into him in the warehouse, where he was holding a duffel bag and a tracksuit. He was in a hurry, likely so he could go meet someone, and presumably that someone was the killer. Kyoko then made the bold claim that these items pointed to the killer’s identity. You saw no idea how this could be the case, but Taka realized that Chihiro probably picked one that matched to the one belonging to whoever he went to see. Mondo denied the possibility it could be him, since Chihiro had a blue tracksuit, and his was black. Suddenly, Makoto interrupted him. He said that Celeste had never mentioned what color tracksuit Chihiro had, meaning the only way for him to know that information…

Was if he was the murderer himself.

Mondo vehemently denied it was him. Taka insisted he would never do such a thing, and that the accusation was false. You agreed with him. After all, it was a very bad idea to incriminate him on such flimsy reasoning. Suddenly, Hifumi came forward with a new piece of evidence: he had found a broken e-Handbook on the ground. Logically, it could only be Chihiro’s seeing as how his was never found at the scene of the crime. It was curious how both his and Leon’s weren't working, meaning someone was able to find the one method capable of breaking them. When asked about it, Monokuma revealed this to be overexposure to heat. Something instantly clicked in Hifumi’s head, as he confirmed that he found the handbook in the sauna. Monokuma then gave a little lesson on the science of saunas. It was actually quite interesting. Taka felt the same way, as he remarked how he learned one new thing today. If you hadn’t reached such an important point in the case, you would tell him how cute he was, but now hardly seemed like an appropriate time. It was then argued that the culprit could have discovered this heat-based weakness by accidentally taking their e-Handbook into the sauna. Makoto then recalled Taka and Mondo’s sauna challenge, where Mondo was wearing his whole uniform, and possibly by extension, could have had his handbook in one of his jacket pockets. If he wanted to prove his innocence, all he had to do was show the class his perfectly functional handbook. Or rather, show that his perfectly working handbook was actually his, and not Leon’s, which was previously believed to be the identity of the broken handbook in the main hall. The grim reality slowly sunk into your mind. Mondo was a friend of a friend. You had spent time with him, and you would even call him an acquaintance.

_“He… he’s a murderer? No… that can’t be right!”_

Taka was taking it even worse than you. He was in full denial mode, claiming that all the evidence was completely fabricated. Makoto then proposed everyone present their handbooks, but Mondo interrupted him, and finally came clean and admitted his guilt. He then asked Monokuma to start the vote. Taka protested it, but he ignored his pleas and instructed everyone to yank their levers to cast their ballots. As you stared down at the mechanism in front of you a deep pit of despair was forming in your stomach.

_“Why Mondo… I thought you were our friend! Why!? Why did you do it? And now I have to be the one to send you to your death…”_ Tears began to roll down your cheeks. _“I’m sorry…”_ You gritted your teeth in reluctance as you pushed the lever into position. After everyone had cast their votes, Mondo was officially convicted for the murder of Chihiro Fujisaki. The vote was unanimous aside from Taka, who had voted for himself. He started to break down, demanding to know why he did it, but his bro merely stood there in regretful silence. Seeing his refusal to talk, Monokuma himself filled in the background of the incident: Mondo’s secret was that he had unintentionally killed his brother by challenging him to a dangerous street race. His whole life he had insecurities about not being able to be as good and strong as him, and that race was the ultimate culmination of his desire to prove himself to be better than him. He had never told his gang any of this, lying to them that he had triumphed over his elder brother. When Monokuma had his secret for ransom, he was losing his nerves, and when Chihiro, who was taking the initiative to better himself and become stronger, revealed his goals to him at their workout session to be strong like him, he took it as an insult and in a blind fit of rage, caved his skull in with one of the dumbbells. After realizing what he had done in horror, he moved Chihiro’s body to the girls’ room as penance, wanting to keep his promises to him and protect his secret. As Monokuma rubbed the salt into everyone’s wound of despair, Taka had completely lost it and was cursing out Monokuma, something you’d never think you’d see him do. The bear then declared it was time to move on to the execution. Taka cried for him to stop, but all he do was watch. Mondo lamented his failures one last time before being dragged away with the metallic claw to the execution grounds.

“NO!!!” Taka screamed in agony as he ran at Olympian level speeds down the hall, desperate to catch up to him. Everyone followed suit, and at the end of the hall was Taka violently shaking the fence, fruitlessly trying to pry it off. Eventually, his strength petered out, and he looked like he was on the brink of collapse. He stumbled around, struggling to stay on his feet, before ultimately slumping into your arms. He weakly looked up, just in time as the execution was beginning. Monokuma was sitting on a motorcycle, with Mondo tied up behind him. In front of them was a long red carpet leading to a large spherical cage. Behind it was a bunch of circus-themed cutouts. You instantly made the connection to that motorcycle in a cage circus act, something Monokuma intended to corrupt into something sick and twisted for his own amusement. He revved up the motorcycle’s engine and drove at it with high speed. As the bike neared the cage, he ejected off it, leaving Mondo there alone. He entered it, and he started orbiting within it at high speeds. He went faster and faster, and suddenly, an electric glow surrounded the cage. The sparks grew brighter and brighter, until they exploded in a burst of sound and light. You winced, covering your eyes to shield them from overexposure. As the flash subsided, you saw that Mondo had disappeared from the cage, the motorcycle losing all its momentum as it fell on the bottom.

_“Where did he go?”_ you wondered. _“What…just happened?”_

In the distance, you heard the beeping of a machine. Monokuma went over to it, then approached the jury, who were currently in complete shock from witnessing the angel of death descend before their very eyes. In his paws was a small container of some kind. He turned the container towards you so you could see it.

“Look kids, Mondo butter, churned fresh right here at Hope’s Peak!” On its top was a label with Mondo’s face. The execution must had done something to his innards, and as you thought about Mondo’s guts inside that little tub, you began to feel nauseous. He then popped out of the room, leaving everyone to soak in their despair. Taka had let go of you, kneeling on the ground on all fours. He wasn’t saying a word, merely bawling out his entire soul. You kneeled down by him and put your hand on his back, trying to provide at least some bit of comfort. The other students looked down at him in pity, before turning away to return to the trial grounds. Soon, it was just the two of you left.

“Let’s go back,” you solemnly proposed. He looked at you with his teary face, and slowly began to pull himself up with your help. He didn’t look at you, his gaze fixated downwards. In silence, the two of you walked down the empty hall. When you reached the trial grounds, there was another nightmare awaiting you: Monokuma was sitting on his chair, eating a stack of buttery pancakes.

“Ahh! This hits the spot!” he happily sighed. “Bikers sure make the perfect compliment for a well-balanced breakfast!"

As Taka saw him eat the flapjacks topped with the remains of his best friend, he stared in horror, the color completely draining from his face. He let out more agonized screams. In the meantime, Byakuya was explaining why he had messed with Chihiro’s body, but you didn’t care what that creep had to say. Your boyfriend was in a very bad place right now, and you were currently concerned with being there for him in his distress.

“Hey, what are you kiddos still doing here?” the bear grumbled. “Go out and kill someone or something, okay?”

You all filed into the elevator in silence. Taka had continued to avoid eye contact. He still held onto your hand, but you could feel his grip was tighter than it usually was, as if he were afraid that he would lose you too. As the elevator stopped on the ground floor, you walked him to his room, as you figured he would want to be alone right now. You felt similarly, and after he sulked into the confines of his room, you retreated to your own quarters, grief-struck and heavy hearted.

* * *

_“Ding dong!”_ rang your doorbell.

“Huh?” you groaned in your nearly asleep state. You stumbled to the door. Upon opening it, you saw Taka, staring blankly at you.

“Oh, it’s you,” you said. “Baby, is something wrong?”

He said nothing. He then embraced you tightly, hugging you so hard that your movement had become restricted. You let out a gasp before returning the hug.

“It’s okay…” you whispered. “I’m here…come in…” You closed the door behind him, and you led him to your bed, where you both sat down as he continued to hold onto your body.

“Do…you want to talk about it?” you asked. He still was silent, so you took that as a no.

“Okay then…but I’ll tell you this. Mondo was my friend too. I…can’t believe he’s gone…I know you were closer to him, and I can’t imagine what you’re going through right now. Just know that I’m here for you, okay?”

He still said nothing. You would think that he was completely ignoring everything including you, but you felt his weight shift as he laid on your bed, cuddling you tightly by the back like a giant teddy bear. Memories of the time you had shared a room immediately came flooding back. The two of you stayed there quietly, not moving and not speaking at all. Suddenly, you heard a loud grumbling noise.

“Is that your stomach?” you inquired. “Oh baby, have you not eaten today? Oh no…” You rotated yourself so you were facing him. You started rubbing his stomach in circles, as you looked up to his face with worry. “You can’t just go without food, honey...the dining hall is closed for the night, so we’ll get you something to eat tomorrow, okay?” You then leaned up and planted a kiss under his chin. “I need to get to sleep. You can stay here for the night if you’d like.”

He didn’t move, which you interpreted as his intention to stay. You reached for the covers and pulled them over you two. You turned over to your side and closed your eyes. Any other night, this would probably be one of the most romantic things imaginable, but with the state he was in, the moment had become somber. Despite all the fretful thoughts swarming your mind, you did your best to concentrate on the sensation of his arms on your body, and eventually, you were able to drift into slumber.

As the morning bell rang, you awoke, and you turned yourself to get the day’s first look at your boyfriend’s face.

“Oh, you’re already awake…” you said. However, you noticed dark bags under his eyes. You came to the horrifying realization that it wasn’t that he had gotten up before you, but rather he had gotten no sleep at all. “Oh, poor baby…you’ve been up all night…”

Not a single word came from his mouth. It seemed his lack of willingness to talk wasn’t just a one-day thing; he had become a full-on mute. The events of the previous day had more of an effect on him than you previously thought.

“Well, it’s morning, so let’s head on down for the meeting. There we can at least get some food in you.”

You tried to get up, but that was a difficult task, as Taka wasn’t letting go of you. 

“Hey…” you gently protested. “Are you worried about me? Don’t worry, I’ll be okay…you can hold my hand if you want, though.”

He complied to your wishes, and he let go of you. After you both stood up, he grasped onto your whole arm, and you led him out of your room and to the dining hall. You took him into the kitchen, and you prepared for him a bowl of oatmeal. As you boiled the water, you were filled with a sad nostalgia for that morning some days back. After all, it was the same meal you made yourself as he guarded you for the first time. He stared down as you worked. You could feel his body slightly warm up, as if your kindness was bringing a sliver of light into his cold, dead world. After the oatmeal was completed, you moved back to the dining hall, and you sat down next to each other. You took a spoonful and held it up to his mouth. You smiled as he weakly accepted it, the grains slowly being pulled back behind his lips. Just a few days ago, you were the one who was weak, the one who needed being taken care of. However, it seemed that in just one day, that had all turned on its head. Now you were the one who had to watch over your catatonic boyfriend. Despite his unresponsive state, you knew his real self was trying to break free. While his increased clinginess was a bit concerning, you could tell he was keeping his promise to protect you, even when he was at his most feeble.

You fed him a few more spoonfuls, until eventually he refused to eat anymore. While you were upset that he had only a few bites, it was certainly better than nothing. Not wanting to waste, you grabbed another spoon and finished the bowl yourself. After breakfast, everyone started looking around the school, as since another class trial had passed, new areas would be open. The stairs to the third floor were unlocked. You and Taka found a physics lab filled with all kinds of science equipment. At its center was a giant machine of some sort.

“Wow…” you said in amazement. “I wonder what that thing is for?”

As you examined the machine in attempt to discern its function, you were joined by Makoto, who found himself having the same curiosities as you. Suddenly, Monokuma popped into the room. You felt Taka tighten his grasp on you, moving his body to shield you from the bear. Monokuma then began to explain that the mechanism in front of you was actually a time machine, built by the late Ultimate Physicist.

“Oh please, if that’s true, I would have heard about it! It would have been all over the news,” you snidely responded to him.

Although you were thoroughly unconvinced, Taka seemed to be taking the bait.

“A time machine…?” he inquired, saying something for the first time in a whole day. His voice exploded in volume as he then requested in tears to use it so he could go back to stop Mondo from ever committing murder.

“Baby, no!” you cried to him. “He’s lying to you, can’t you see?”

Monokuma continued up the act, saying that he was out of luck since the machine only went back a minute max.

“Stop it!” you yelled at him in a threatening tone. “Stop messing with him!”

“Geez lady, stop ruining my fun!” he grumbled. “But yeah, it’s not a time machine. There’s no such thing as time machines anyway.” He then revealed it was an air purifier. He warned you not to mess with or break it, then disappeared. Any hope that was in Taka’s eyes had vanished, and he quickly returned to being mute and unresponsive.

“Unforgivable…” Makoto hissed. “To think he would do something like that to someone suffering…it’s disgusting…oh, and thank you, (y/n). You were able to shut down Monokuma’s little charade there pretty quickly. Taka sure is lucky to have someone like you."

“Thank you too,” you replied. “Your sympathies mean a lot.”

He nodded. “By the way, I’ve been going around for a while, and I think everyone’s finishing up with investigating. I’m going to check out that storage room over there, then I’ll meet you all at the dining hall.”

You nodded. “Alright. Come on Taka, let’s go.”

When you returned, you saw that Hina was there, who hadn’t shown up that morning. Sakura said that she was sick, but apparently she was feeling better now. Everyone then started discussing the new places they had found. On top of the physics lab you and Taka had found, there was a rec room, an art room, and the previously locked nurse’s office had opened up. Makoto then revealed one of his own discoveries: he had found a picture in the art room repository of Mondo, Leon, and Chihiro together in a bright, sun-lit classroom. You thought it had to be a fake made by Monokuma to gaslight all of you. After all, none of them knew each other before coming to Hope’s Peak. Most of the others agreed, and the topic was reluctantly changed. Celeste then asserted that Hina was lying about her illness earlier. She admitted that she was right. Last night, she had heard a strange noise coming from the bathhouse, and when she went there and looked in one of the lockers, she saw Chihiro’s face in a bright green light.

“No way!” you shouted in disbelief and fear. “Was it like a g-g-ghost?”

The others’ were curious to see what Hina had witnessed, and they all agreed to go to the bathhouse together.

“Do…you want us to go with them?” you asked Taka. He didn’t move, so you took that as a request from him for the two of you to stay behind. You told this to the others, and they seemed to understand. They all left, and the two of you were alone. Later that night, Kyoko filled you in on what they found. What Hina saw that morning wasn’t a ghost, but a laptop from the library containing an advanced program made by Chihiro, who used his own likeness for the AI’s avatar. Apparently, the program was in the process of analyzing the encrypted files on the machine, which might include clues regarding your predicament, or perhaps the identity of the mastermind controlling Monokuma. Hearing this, you felt a flutter of excitement within you. This could be something big. For the first time in a while, you had hope. Even with a traumatized mute boyfriend and Monokuma interrupting you to tell you there were presents in the gym, which you knew could only be another motive, you knew that things could be getting better from here. You might even be able to escape with whatever new information was on that computer. It was like Taka said:

The good guys always win in the end.


	6. Reignited Devotion

Ten million dollars were up for grabs, an eight-digit sum for whoever submitted to the devil’s will. This motive was probably the most worrying one yet. Greed was a universal vice, a deadly sin that dwelled deep in the hearts of every man and woman. When Monokuma revealed the massive pile of cash to the class, everyone insisted that they wouldn’t let the prize influence them, either on moral grounds or because their present condition outside the game was already adequately comfortable. You wanted to believe them, but ten million was a lot of money. Of course, you knew you would never take this offer in a million years. Not only was murder wrong to begin with, but it was a graduation present after all, and graduation at Hope’s Peak meant the death of everyone but you. If you killed someone for that money and won the trial, not only would you set the record for youngest person to retire, but also be among the youngest widows. Even if Taka stayed the way he was now for the rest of his life, you would never want to be without him. If it meant you had to be his personal caretaker till death do you part, so be it. After all, you were greatly indebted to him. The way he cared for you those days was worth reciprocating for multiple lifetimes. After the motive presentation was over, you returned to your room for the night, and Taka stayed with you just as he did last night. When you woke up the next morning, you turned to see that his eyes were closed, meaning that his body was forcing its usual functions into gear once again. Even though it was evident after he woke that he probably wasn’t asleep for too long, it was reliving to see even a small improvement. You told him it was time to go to breakfast, but he didn’t seem to want to budge. You compromised with him that you would go grab some food and you would eat in your room, just the two of you. The rest of the day, you tried to do what he would have done with you if you were in his position instead; you read to him from the various books you had on your desk. It was almost a relaxing day. You sat next with him in the bed, your head slightly leaning on his shoulder as you read aloud. You would frequently take breaks to give your throat a rest, as well as to grab food for you both during mealtimes. Intertwined with all of those were silent cuddling sessions. It was your way of telling him that he was loved, because the fastest way for him to potentially start recovering was for him to know there was someone who cared for him there to support him. Eventually, it was almost nighttime, and you were readying yourself for another night with him. However, he stood up and was heading for the door.

“Is there somewhere you need to go?” you asked him. “Are you ready to go back to your room?”

“I need… to see something…” he quietly replied. Your eyes widened at the surprise of hearing the first time of him talking in a while.

“Would you like me to go with you?”

“No…this is about…a man’s promise…”

You weren’t sure what that meant, but you knew it must be important for him. “Okay… just please be safe, okay? It’s almost nighttime after all…”

Without saying another word, he exited your room. For a while, you were alone. You were feeling a little worried. Then, a few minutes later, you heard your doorbell ring. You quickly rushed to the door, and opened it to see Taka, as you expected. However, he had a strange grin on his face. His composure also seemed much more energetic.

“(y/n)!” he shouted with vigor. “Wonderful news! I… have been reborn!”

“Huh?” you said in confusion. “Are you feeling better, Taka? What happened?”

“Do not call me that!” he replied. “I am a new man! Bro spoke to me, and we have become one!”

Your hopeful look at seeing his miraculous recovery quickly turned into one of concern. “Wha- what are you talking about?”

“I saw him, (y/n)! And I saw Chihiro too!”

You then quickly pieced together what had happened. He went to see Alter Ego. In his despaired state, he must have mistaken his avatar as Chihiro’s spirit, just like Hina did, and he didn’t know it was just a program because his only knowledge of it was from when he was in the dining room with her explaining the ghostlike thing she had seen. Seeing what he thought to be the apparition of a deceased friend must have been the straw that broke the camel’s back. At that point, he must have completely snapped.

“Taka… you’re mistaken… that wasn’t Chihiro, that was Alter Ego, a program he made…”

“But what about bro? He’s right here, (y/n), speaking to you!”

“Taka… Mondo is gone, I’m sorry…” you said in an apprehensive tone, your eyes shifting down to the ground. “You’re trying to cope by pretending he’s not, and that’s not healthy…”

“No, you’re wrong!” he stubbornly replied. “He’s inside me! Everything I feel… it’s being multiplied a hundredfold… including my love for you!

“Huh?” you said in surprise. “Honey, that’s real sweet of you, but-” Before you could finish your sentence, he suddenly lifted you off your feet, holding you bridal style. You yelped in surprise. “Hey… what are you doing?”

He shut the door behind him and started walking over to the bed. “I feel so much adoration for you, (y/n)! You are a beautiful girl who deserves only the best! I must reward you! I will show you as much love within the appropriate boundaries of a premarital relationship as I can!” He then laid you on the bed on your stomach. He slid his arms under yours, then angling his elbows to lock you into place. He crawled onto the mattress, each of his legs hugging a side of your back. His head craned down to your neck, and he began to suck on it hard. You let out another surprised squeal.

_“Wha- what is he trying to pull?”_ you thought to yourself. _“He’s being way more feelsy than usual! This isn’t like him! Is he trying to act like how Mondo would too? This seems like more something he would try to do…”_

Eventually, your thoughts of confusion were drowned out by bursts of pleasure. As much as you didn’t want to admit it, you were enjoying this. Part of you wanted to ask him to stop. You didn’t want to encourage something coming from unhealthy delusional thoughts. Still, something about it felt genuine. He had been lifeless for so long and was aching to return your love. Everything had been so bad for him as of late that you just wanted to let him have this one. As long as he didn’t go too deep into inappropriate territory, it was fine by you. You stopped worrying for a moment and focused your thoughts to the sensations of your skin being grazed by his wet tongue. You felt the heat in your body rise as soft whimpers escaped your lips. The feeling was simply incredible. His lips were being planted at just the right points to send your mind into a complete frenzy.

“Ah, you like that, my flower?” he said with a smirk. “Now, is there anything I can do for my lovely lady?”

You were taken aback by the sudden transfer of control. You found yourself in a situation you didn’t expect yourself to be in. You had free reigns to do anything with him that wasn’t rated R, something a little more than normal hugs and kisses… you felt bad, feeling like you were taking advantage of Taka when he was in a state that wasn’t properly himself, but now was your chance to indulge yourself in him a little more than you normally would…

“Can… you unbutton your jacket?” you requested. “You don’t have to take it off… just unbutton it…”

“Yes, of course my love!” he eagerly replied. He released you from his arms and turned you over to your back. Seeing him crawled over you was quite awkward, and you felt a hot rush of blood to your face. He then sat up and offered you his hand so you could sit up as well. He then grabbed your other hand and placed it on his chest. “In fact, why don’t you do the honors?”

Nervously, you got on your knees and began to unbutton the jacket. After finishing undoing the last button, you pulled open his jacket like a curtain and got met with a most beautiful sight- his muscular torso, complete with a glorious set of washboard abs. After getting a glimpse of him in that sauna, you had secretly longed to be able to see it again. 

“Oh my… how handsome…” you grinned. Your fingers traced the perimeter of his firm, meaty pecks. You then slid your hands down his sides, stopping at his abs. You pushed into them, feeling their strength. Taka winced, but he seemed not to mind, enjoying the positive attention you were giving him. You then gripped onto his sides, as you leaned in to give him a deep kiss on his stomach.

“(y/n)…” he moaned.

Your kiss became slobbery, as drool cascaded from your mouth. Your jaw opened a tad, trying to get one of the muscles in your mouth as you worked around it with your lips. You then came to the realization that you were getting a little too into this. You were a modest, chaste woman, or at least you tried to be. It was silly to deny that there was indeed a touch starved girl living within you who was very excited about the prospect of getting all touchy feelsy with her boyfriend, but you had self-control, and you knew if you didn’t try to slow things down as they were, that girl would make her advance, and you might end up doing something you’d regret, something that would make a sound-minded Taka very uncomfortable.

“Hey, you know what would make me happy?” you told him. “If…we cuddled and talked. It’s been too long since I was able to hear your voice…”

“Haha! You’re so sweet, my flower!” he laughed. He grabbed you into a tight embrace and laid down on the bed. He kissed the top of your head. For a moment, things felt alright and were somewhat back to normal. Of course, his behavior was anything but that. You couldn’t tell if this was an improvement for him or two steps backward, but it felt nice hearing him be so energetic again. In that regard, he was at least halfway back to his old self. He then started rambling endlessly how wonderful you were, using colorful, poetic language that would even give Toko a run for her money. A lot of it was cheesy, but very endearing. Soon, your eyes became droopy as you grew sleepy, and you fell asleep in his arms.

* * *

“Hey! Wake up!”

You awoke to the sound of his thundering voice. You felt even groggier than you did most mornings, and you had the suspicion that you had gotten less sleep than you usually did.

“Ngh… what time is it…” you groaned.

“It’s 6 AM!” he replied with a shout.

“6 AM?” you sighed with discontentment. Normally you awoke to the sound of the morning bell at 7. Getting one less hour of sleep than usual, while not much in the grand scheme of things, was enough to throw your biological clock off. “What do we need to be up at 6 for?”

“We’re going to the sauna!” he smiled with determination.

“The sauna!?” you did a double take. “A boy and a girl in the sauna together? Is that even allowed?”

“Don’t fret!” he assured you. He then tossed a bathing suit onto the bed. It was one of the plain black swimsuits you recalled seeing in the warehouse. “As long as we have these, that shouldn’t be a concern!”

“But… why?” you asked.

“As I know from experience, the blazing heat of a sauna is a furnace that strengthens all bonds, and not just those between men, but also of men and the women they love!”

_“That’s sweet, but this probably isn’t about me…”_ you realized. _“He misses Mondo… I’m glad he wants to spend time with me like this, but it has to be an excuse to do something that the two of them enjoyed… Well, if it helps him heal, I’m all for it.”_

You lifted up the swimsuit he had handed you. It looked to be just your size. You entered the bathroom and got changed into it, and it fit perfectly, snugging your body just the right way, as if it were tailored just for you. You admired yourself in the mirror, satisfied at how the fabric traversed your curves. You felt a little nervous, as you had never shown this much skin in front of Taka before. The swimsuit, while modest, covered significantly less than your uniform or your pajamas, and you were feeling quite self-conscious at the prospect of him seeing more of you. You had a lot of confidence at that moment, but it was laying on a nervous and shaky foundation. You exited the bathroom and saw him waiting for you. He had gotten into a pair of trunks, and he had a towel over his shoulders. You quickly realized the hidden benefit of going on this little morning date of yours, as his whole upper half was on full display. His eyes scanned down your form, admiring your shape.

“You’re so gorgeous!” he complimented you. He sounded like he was getting very emotional, and his face became flooded with tears as he let out a heartfelt cry. “I can’t believe I have the privilege of being in the presence of such a goddess!”

You felt yourself getting flushed. “You’re overexaggerating…” You started to get a little worried that he was getting a bit obsessive. He did say his “love for you had multiplied a hundred-fold” last night or something like that, so him being especially doting on his loved ones could be a defense mechanism for his grief. You couldn’t deny you liked the compliments, but where they were subconsciously coming from could be concerning. You decided not to dwell on it at that moment. The two of you were about to go relax together after all, and you certainly didn’t need more stress on you. He took your hand and the two of you headed to the bathhouse. You entered the steamy sauna, and you sat right next to him. You both threw your arms around each other, embracing as the hot air sent tingling sensations against your skin. Neither of you said much for a while, but you watched him with interest as beads of sweat began to roll down him. His face became slightly red, and it almost looked like he was blushing. It was pretty cute, and you couldn’t resist the urge to lean in and give him a peck on the cheek. You felt his face tense up, and you could feel his cheek muscles pull up into a smile.

“Yeah, you feel that bro?” he muttered nonsensically. “She belongs to me, but I guess she technically belongs to you now too…”

Hearing him say this, your own smile quickly faded. He had returned to his little delusional roleplay.

“…but not like that! That’s against the bro code! What I mean is that it’s now your responsibility to protect her now too! And help me shower her with love too.. she’s all we have left…” He had totally gone into a trance, and he seemed to forget that you were even next to him. Perhaps being in the room where the two of them had become friends wasn’t a good idea after all… You had to snap him out of this.

“Hey,” you said as you prodded his side. “Why don’t we get out of here and take a bath together in the other room?”

His eyes shot wide open in a confused and almost angry face. “Wha-what are you getting at? Why would you suggest something so indecent!?”

“Nononono, not like that!” you assured him. “I don’t mean, like, actually take a bath together. I mean more that we just sit in the water together like it’s a small, warm swimming pool! I mean, we are wearing bathing suits after all. If you do want to clean each other though, maybe we could wash each other’s hair.”

He looked down as he contemplated the idea, before accepting, although it was clear he was hesitant. You left the sauna and returned to the main room of the bathhouse. On the counter there was a set of the standard warehouse shampoo and conditioner, which you grabbed and brought with you as you stepped into the warm water. He followed you, and sat beside you. He had a nervous look on his face, uncomforted by the breaking such a longstanding social taboo. Even if you had made sure you were doing as little wrong as possible, the sight of a girl in the bath next to him must be making him feel incredibly awkward. Normally girls didn’t sit in saunas with boys either, but he seemed fixated enough to connect to his late friend for him to overlook that. You felt bad for making him do this, but you knew it was a solid distraction from him sinking further into madness.

“What’s wrong baby?” you asked him as you pulled up your hand to stroke his cheek. “It’s all right. Just relax, okay?” You then playfully slapped the water, causing a wave to splash into his face.

“H-hey!” he objected, but his irritated tone quickly faded as he started to chuckle. He reciprocated with an even larger splash, and you giggled as the hot droplets soaked your hair.

“Hahaha, you’re so cute when you laugh!” he laughed, leaning in to kiss you. It seemed he had forgotten whatever business he had in the sauna, now completely occupied with enjoying your company. You reached for the bottle of shampoo and squirted some onto your hand. You rubbed your palms together, then reached for his head. He closed his eyes in contentment, enjoying you massaging his scalp. His jet black hair* quickly became overrun with frothy white suds. It was an adorable sight to behold, one you wanted to make all the more charming. With the shampoo residue still on your fingers, you squinched them together and connected your thumb and your pointer, creating a bubble blower. You blew through it, and a huge rainbow bubble emerged from it. It broke away from its source, and floated onto Taka’s nose, sticking to it, but not popping. His eyes shot wide in surprise, and he let out a jolly chortle.

“Look, it’s the bubble clown!” you joked, barely holding back your own laughter. He chuckled even harder. Unfortunately, the bubble’s time in this world was short, and it burst not long after. He then sunk beneath the surface of the water, washing off all the shampoo on his head. He then took the bottle himself and started washing you. You sighed happily as he stroked your every lock, lovingly lathering all of it in a thick foam.

“Your hair is the most beautiful I’ve ever seen!” he complimented you. “I could do this all day!”

You wished you could as well, but you suddenly heard talking coming from the other room.

“What’s going on out there?” you wondered. However, you were eventually able to make out words, and even recognize the voices. There were a bunch of people in there, and they were all talking about Alter Ego. Taka could hear all of this too, and his attention quickly turned to the discussion of his “bro”.

“Hey, we should get out, this seems important,” you told him. He agreed, and you both exited the bath and grabbed some towels to help dry you up. You then entered the locker area, where you saw some of the other students all gathered in there. Hifumi was talking about how last night he had been using Alter Ego without permission, roleplaying with it as his “girlfriend”.

Taka, hearing this, immediately became enraged. “You gotta be freakin’ kiddin’ me!” he yelled, and all the eyes in the room immediately turned to the two of you. They were confused at his sudden change in demeanor compared to the last few days. He then introduced this phase of his as “Kiyondo”, a portmanteau of he and Mondo’s names. It was then unfortunately evident that although he was incredibly loving towards you, to everyone else he was trying to imitate his friend, that being incredibly rude. He turned to Hifumi and started berating and threatening him for thinking that Alter Ego belonged to him. After all, Mondo was in that computer… apparently. You weren’t sure what that meant, but seeing that he mistook Alter Ego for Chihiro’s ghost, he must have seen something else that reminded him of his beloved bro. Kyoko quickly broke up the two’s fight, and commanded that they refrain from using the laptop in unnecessary ways. They reluctantly agreed after a forceful stare from Sakura, and then everyone disbanded. You and Taka resumed your bath together, both of you enjoying the warm water and each other for a while longer. You stayed in there until your toes became deeply wrinkled. You then decided it was time to dry up and head out, and the two of you left for your room. While walking through the hall, you ran into Byakuya, who was in turn being followed by Jill. When Taka saw her, he instinctually guarded you with his arm.

“Stay back, you fiend!” he growled at her, at a much higher volume than was necessary.

She ignored him, instead peering at the two of you. “Oh my! You’re both wrapped in towels and you’re faces are all pink! Kyahaha! My gosh, you two were in the bath together!” She began to drool uncontrollably, lost in an insane fantasy. “Ooh! The bath water just wasn’t enough heat for you, was it? Tick Tock probably got his hands all up in Pansy’s-”

“That’s enough,” Byakuya thankfully interrupted her. “It’s not in my interest to know about the filth these monkeys get themselves into.”

“No! I swear! We’re not doing anything like that!” you insisted. “We were just relaxing in the water together, that’s really it!”

“Yeah! And what about calling my girlfriend ‘Pansy!’” Taka yelled at Jill. “Call her that again and I’ll yank out your freakin’ tongue!”

“You’re in… higher spirits than usual,” Byakuya noted with a hint of sarcasm. “What’s going on with you?”

You were about to explain to Byakuya what had happened, but Taka interrupted you.

“My soul has been restored and burns anew! Bro has returned to us, inside me right now! And we don’t take your comments very kindly, you gosh dang good for nothing son of a gun!”

“Heh,” Byakuya sneered. “How amusing. It appears you have finally snapped from the pressure. You, who were the most order obsessed of anyone here, were the one to fall to the chaos and death around you? How wonderfully ironic, although I suppose that’s inevitable for people like you.”

“S-shut up!” you yelled at him. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say! Just… get out of my sight!”

“Fine,” he snorted. “Suit yourself. Associating yourself with someone so weak will only make you weak in return. Not that you had any ounce of strength in you to begin with.”

Taka’s teeth were clenched, his fists balled. It was clear he had intentions to cave in the snobby brat’s face. He lunged forward, but you grabbed onto his arm to stop him. Confused, he turned to you, and upon seeing your fretful face, relented his assault.

“Thank you for controlling your animal,” Byakuya said with a smug smile. “I better leave now before he acts up again.” He then walked away from the two of you, Jill eagerly skipping behind him.

“How dare he say such things…” Taka muttered with rage as he watched them disappear. “Please (y/n), I must make you forget him and all his vile words!”

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” you assured him. “He’s not worth the attention, and I’m not giving him any mind.”

He shook his head, then put his hands on your shoulders and leaned in to place a kiss on your collarbone. “No, I want to make you feel as beautiful as you are! I feel a passion burning within me, one I must express!”

_“Huh?”_ you thought in bewilderment. _“Wha-what does he mean? That sounds awfully suggestive…”_ Thankfully, you weren’t left with much time to wonder.

“The art room on the third floor! Let us go there! A sudden inspiration has come over me!”

You had never thought of him as the artistic type, but doing something creative like that could be therapeutic for him. You instantly agreed to his proposal, and after you returned to your rooms to get dressed, you headed up the stairs to the art room. As soon as you got there, he began frisking the room for supplies. His eyes became bright upon finding an inkwell and an inkbrush.

“Yes, I see it now!” he said to himself. “A beautiful Edo period woman… delicate and graceful in such a cruel world… yes… that is what I must capture in you! (y/n)! Would you do the honors of being my live model?”

“You want me to model?” you replied. “Well… okay!”

He beamed with joy at his response. He then handed you a prop parasol he had found and had you stand in the middle of the room. He sat some distance from you, kneeling over a calligraphy desk. He then instructed you to pose. You weren’t sure what would make for a good one, so you started with simply resting the parasol on your shoulder and slightly rotating your hips.

“Yes, perfect!” he said. “Now don’t move, my flower!”

You were a little surprised at his enthusiasm for your position. You could probably come up with a better one with a bit more time, but if he loved it, that’s all that mattered. He then began making a series of grunts and groans as he swiped the brush across the paper with vigor and force. It didn’t look like an effective technique, and although you couldn’t see it from your angle, you couldn’t imagine it coming out as anything but a big blobby mess. After a while, he stood up, beaming with pride at what he had created. Curious to see the end result, you released yourself from your pose and went over to look. Contrary to your expectations, his rendering was quite solid, something you’d see yourself hanging on your own wall. Even with just the minimalistic black strokes, you could easily tell it was you. Of course, he had taken some creative liberties, such as replacing your uniform with an elegant, ladylike kimono.

“Oh! It’s so pretty!” you complimented him. “You did such a good job!”

He laughed, then leaned in to kiss you on the cheek. “Of course. What student would I be if I didn’t carefully study the arts as well?” He then turned back to his painting. “I hope I was able to capture if but a fraction of how beautiful you are…”

You playfully tickled your fingers on the side of his face. “It’s lovely, my dear.” You then ruined the little moment for yourself when you remembered that he was giving you all this love and attention partially for unhealthy reasons, and your flirty expression dropped into a serious one. “Hey…you’ve been all over me as of late. I love you, and I love the things you do for me, but… is everything all right? You’re not neglecting yourself, right?”

“I have no idea what would make you say that!” he replied with fervor. “As long as my love for you flows through these veins, I must see that energy go into what it rightfully should!”

“Yes, yes, of course… but I’m starting to think you might need some time for yourself every so often.”

“Huh?” he made a noise of confusion.

“Like… last night you stayed in my room of your own free choice, and that’s not like you. I mean, isn’t that supposed to be unwholesome or something?”

His eyes then grew wide, as he came to an uncomfortable realization. “Oh God, you’re right!” He then began to uncontrollably sob. “How vulgar of me! I… I can’t forgive myself! Please (y/n), I have to be punished! Give me what I deserve!”

“No, no!” you assured him. “It’s okay! You’ve been up to things that aren’t typically you lately, that’s all. How about every night you think to yourself alone in your room, and the next day we can talk about it?”

He then suddenly bowed down, accepting your suggestion with enthusiasm. “Yes, my flower! I must make myself meet your standards!”

It… wasn’t like that at all, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. “Don’t think about it like that. I’m just a little worried about you sometimes, that’s all.” You then lightly pinched his cheek and pulled him in for a smooch. You then broke away from it with a smile on your face. “Now be a good boy and take me to get some lunch. I’m getting hungry.”

He chuckled, then took ahold of your hand, and the two of you made your way down to the dining hall. After getting your stomachs all full, you spent some more time with him. Until the evening, you went to the rec room to play some games. You had to teach him the rules to many of them since he had never played some of them before, but he was quickly able to make himself a formidable opponent. He played a mean game of pool, for one. After breaking for dinner, you then returned to your rooms for early bedtime business, since Taka was very eager to start his nightly self-reflections you had prescribed him. At around 8 o’clock, he bid you goodnight with a kiss on the forehead, and you didn’t see him again until the next morning. Shortly after waking up, you heard your doorbell ring, and you answered it to see Taka holding a tray of plates with piping hot breakfast on each of them.

“Good morning, my flower!” he happily chirped. “I brought you a most energizing meal to start your day!”

“Oh…thanks!” you replied with a mixture of confusion and gratitude. You took one of the plates and sat down with him on your bed. As you chowed down, you felt his hands tenderly brush down your back.

“I had a very contemplative night yesterday, just like you told me,” he said.

“What did you think of?” you asked him.

“You of course!” he replied, smiling. “Even when you weren’t with me, I couldn’t stop thinking about you…”

“Yeah… that’s nice… but… there’s more to life than just me, you know?”

A confused look crossed his face. “But (y/n), what else is there to think of? There’s no way out, no academics…” Tears began to inch their way out of his eyes before gushing down in flowing rivers. “You’re all I have, (y/n)! I don’t want anything else anymore except to get out of here with you!” He had completely melted down, sobbing into your chest, just as you had done in the past. For a moment, it seemed like he was shedding his Kiyondo façade. The tone in his voice that he seemed to adapt after he stared speaking again was gone, filtering out the false self he was forcing, leaving but the naked, genuine soul screaming out for help.

“Shhh… it’s okay…” you comforted him. “There are so many wonderful things in this world worth living for… I mean, why else would I have been so overly scared about dying earlier if that wasn’t the case? That’s why I’m so worried about you… if something happens to me, I don’t want you to have nothing!”

“(y/n)…” he struggled to mutter past his wailing. “Why… why do I feel this way? So desperate to please you when I know you’ll always love me anyway… but you deserve it… you deserve it so much…”

“What you’re feeling… just let it all out,” you said. “It’s not good to keep anything negative bottled up, after all.”

He continued to sob, his entire body twitching with overstimulation, his emotional high he had been on coming crashing down full force. As he drained himself of his tears, his gasps for air became quieter, until he became completely silent. For a few moments, neither of you moved or talked, and the room had become completely still. His head was rested against your hand, his backside against the other, his position stabilized with his arms wrapped just below your armpits. Everything was perfectly balanced and unmoving, the scene instantly transforming from one of panic to one of serenity. Feeling a wave of calm, you shut your eyes, focusing your attention on your other senses. Your fingers felt every fiber on his uniform, your nose took in his clean scent, and your ears became perceptive to the subtle sound of him breathing. It felt like time had froze. The stresses of the world around you had completely evaporated, and you were in a state of reset and relief. Suddenly, you felt his body jerk out of your arms. You opened your eyes to see him standing over you.

“I know what I must do!” he shouted with booming energy. The artificial tone of his voice had instantly returned. You were disappointed that he was still in that phase, but after seeing him drop that guard for at least just a moment, it was a good sign that things were improving, and that the self-reflective sessions were certainly helping. “I must put this devotion to a practical use! Come, (y/n)! Let’s go to the gym! We must train ourselves to prepare for our escape!”

“Wait, why?” you asked.

“Well, if we discover an escape route, Monokuma isn’t just going to let us out easy, right? We must be ready for the worst!”

“I… suppose that makes sense. Okay. I’m down.” After agreeing to his idea, you got changed into some clothes suitable for athletics, grabbed your water bottle, then headed with him to the gymnasium. Upon getting there, you began to run laps. Taka kept pushing you to go faster, and it wasn’t long until you were huffing and puffing desperately.

“Don’t stop!” he yelled at you. “If he were chasing you, he would have caught you by now!” You tried to keep your pace, but your body inevitably ran out of steam and you collapsed on the ground. You felt dizzy and lightheaded, like you were at the brink of death.

“I see this needs some work…” he said as he pulled you up. “We should make this a part of our regimen to improve ourselves! We’ll try this again tomorrow!”

“Tomorrow?” you groaned. “I don’t know… I think I need a nap right now…”

He laughed, then lifted you over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry. He took you to your room, where he tucked you into bed, then kissed you on the forehead before shutting off the lights and heading out. You slept for a few hours and awoke still feeling very physically weak. You had pushed yourself way too much earlier. You wished Taka hadn’t made you work that hard, but it was clear that he saw getting in shape to defy Monokuma meant going any less than you were capable of could mean life or death when the time actually came. You decided it was best to go easy on yourself for the rest of the day. You enjoyed some low-energy activities like reading and drawing on your notepad. Soon, nighttime was fast approaching, and you were ready to hit the hay. However, you heard something slide under your door. You got up and saw that it was a note that said to meet in the dining hall. Curious, you followed its instructions, and you arrived at the dining hall to see Hiro there waiting for you. He told you to “go take a bath”, which was code for a secret meeting in the bathhouse. You complied, and walked there, where you saw everyone else. Taka was picking fights with Hifumi and Byakuya. You wanted to butt in and tell him to calm down, but thankfully Kyoko beat you to it by starting the meeting. She revealed that Alter Ego had gone missing. Someone had taken the laptop. Taka and Hifumi instantly accused each other, but Kyoko affirmed it couldn’t have been either of them, since she had requested it to scream should either of them approach it. Byakuya then confirmed with everyone the list of suspects, and upon hearing your name, Taka immediately got defensive.

“Don’t go pointing your finger at her!” he yelled. “If you even have the smallest inkling that she stole him, I’ll punt your brains out!”

“No, it’s fine,” you told him. “Just because I don’t have an alibi doesn’t mean they think I did it! I’m no more likely than anyone else!”

Thankful that you had contained his temper once again, Byakuya then theorized that the reason someone would take Alter Ego was because one of you was a spy working for the mastermind. It was a horrifying thought, but it made sense; Kyoko had also ordered it to scream if it saw someone it didn’t recognize. If the mastermind wanted to confiscate it, someone else would have to do the grunt work for them. While the situation was indeed awful, at least Alter Ego was most likely safe and not damaged since there would be little reason to hide the laptop if it was going to be destroyed anyway. Everyone got pumped for looking for the laptop, especially Taka and Hifumi. However, it was getting late, and it was agreed to start the search tomorrow after everyone had a good night’s sleep. They protested, but eventually gave in. You took each other’s hands and walked back together to your rooms. You gave each other goodnight kisses, then separated and went to bed.

* * *

The slot machine spun, the faces of the unlucky students trapped in Hope’s Peak whirling round and round. It stopped at an incomprehensible smudge of darkness. There was no victory lights or noises, just cold, dead silence.

“Bzzt! Wrong!” Monokuma said. “Looks like you guys were ultimately unsuccessful in discovering the blackened! The one who killed Mary Smith… was actually John Doe! He will now be able to graduate from this academy!”

As far as you knew, there was no John or Mary in this school that you knew of, but part of you was somehow willing to accept that. Who were they? It didn’t matter, you were in a class trial, and you had just lost.

“We… got it wrong?” Taka said in shock. It was his real voice, and not his “Kiyondo” one. “Then… that means…”

“That’s right!” Monokuma chirped. “I can’t believe I’m finally saying this, but it’s group punishment time!"

“No!” you screamed. “Please…it can’t end like this!”

“Too bad!” Monokuma replied. “You know the rules! You lost, now you must pay the price!”

“(y/n)!” Taka sobbed. “If I die, I want to die holding you!” He then embraced you, and you both started to cry together. Your weeping was interrupted when your breathing suddenly stopped. You looked down to see a cylinder about as thick as your fist was protruding from your stomach. You then saw that the same one was coming out of Taka’s as well, the two of you connected like two pieces of meat on a shish kabob. Both of you were gushing blood, and you quickly became coated in a glossy red. Suddenly, the spear connecting the two of you tilt upwards. Taka’s body slid down the pole, pressing down against yours. As you both wailed in agony, you felt yourself get cold. You looked down to see that your clothes were unraveling, each of your garments being reduced to threads as they fell to the floor. Soon enough, you were completely naked. The same then happened to Taka. As your nude forms pushed against each other, they started melding together like clay. You screamed as you felt his head shift behind yours and his arms phased though your chest. You believed it was incredibly painful… yet you felt nothing. It was almost like it wasn’t real… because it wasn’t. You were dreaming, and upon realizing this, you panicked and tried to force your eyes open to escape the nightmare. You awoke in a cold sweat, but you were safe in your bed, and you breathed a sigh of relief. You checked the time, and saw it was about ten minutes until 6. It was a little while until official morningtime, but you certainly weren’t in the mood to go back to sleep, fearing you would just go back to that terrifying dream. You decided to go see if Taka was up. He probably would be, seeing how he was always an early bird. You left your room and went to his. You were about to knock on his door when you saw a crumbled piece of paper on the ground. You picked it up, and started to read it.

_“I found a hole maybe we can use to escape,”_ it said. _“Monokuma can’t find out, so don’t tell anyone else for now. Let’s meet in the Equipment Room at 6 AM.”_

_“This… definitely sounds like a trap!”_ you thought with horror. _“And why is it outside Taka’s room? That can’t mean…!”_ Filled with dread, you reached for his doorbell and rang it, but he didn’t answer.

_“Oh nononononono…”_ you were beginning to freak out. You made a mad dash for the third floor, your legs carrying you as fast as they could. Eventually, you made it to the physics lab. You entered the storage room, but nobody was there. Confused, you were about to leave until you heard a voice behind you.

“(y/n)! You were told about the hole too?” you turned around to see Taka. You weren’t sure how you had beaten him there, but perhaps he had used one of the restrooms on his way there or something like that. “I saw you running in the halls! Were you in a hurry to get here or-”

“We need to leave right now,” you interrupted him.

“Huh?”

You showed him the paper you had picked up off the ground. “I found this outside your door. It’s obvious someone is trying to target you!”

“Oh, that!” he said, recognizing the note. “I must have dropped it on my way here! But… are you sure this is a trick? You’re always worrying about everything! I don’t want to risk any chance that we miss something of importance!”

“This is way too convenient to be true!” you rebutted. “And I don’t want to risk anything happening to either of us, so please! We need to get out of here before it’s too late!”

As the two of you argued about the legitimacy of the note, someone was watching you two. It was Hifumi, hiding just out of sight in the physics room, holding a brightly painted sculpture mallet. He grumbled with annoyance seeing that you were here. It was completely unaccounted for someone else other than the target being present. Part of him wanted to call off the operation and report back to Celeste that it had failed, but too much progress had already been made: all the setup with framing Hiro had already been done. If he wanted to avenge Celeste and Alter Ego, he had to do it right now, because such an opportunity would never present itself again. The only way to do that would unfortunately have to be to kill both you and him. The regulations did say that one blackened was permitted to kill up to two people, so this could potentially work out. He just had to do this carefully and perfectly: Taka was in the most vulnerable position, as he was the closest and facing away from the doorframe, so he could ambush him, then take you out while you were in shock. He then tiptoed up to the storage room entrance before bursting in, arms ready to swing. You spotted him and let out of a gasp.

“Get down!” you screamed. You then lunged into Taka, tackling him down to the ground. As Hifumi swung the hammer aiming at his head, yours got in the way instead, and it slammed into your skull with a resounding whack. You had no opportunity to react, as your world instantly went dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Before you say, "but Kiyondo's hair is white!" keep in mind that none of the cast ever comments on his hair strangely changing color, and they only note his change in behavior. This makes me believe that the white hair is just a part of the art and not something that exists in-universe, kind of like Nekomaru's eye lightning.
> 
> On a side note, I couldn't decide between an angsty bad ending and a fluffy happy one... so I went with both, plus a third bonus ending that I happened to come up with after the fact, so yay, more content I suppose! Needless to say, those tags will finally get to be applicable real soon, lol.


End file.
